


Soldier boys

by Doctor959



Series: The Umbrella Academy are just a bunch of Misfits [3]
Category: Misfits (TV 2009), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of mass graves, Multi, Nathan Young-centric, Nathan's in Vietnam, Period-Typical Homophobia, Time Travel, Vietnam War, Violence, Whump, drug overdose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24661294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctor959/pseuds/Doctor959
Summary: “So what does that mean?” Luther asks, looking up at Five. The others all turn to their time travel expert.Five doesn’t move for such a long time that Klaus is questioning whether he was even listening.“It means that after weeks and weeks of delicate calculations, thoseidiotshave done the equivalent of taking a bowling ball and smashing the timeline to pieces.”--A Nathan and Klaus in Vietnam fic, featuring the two boys causing havoc in matching towels leading Five on a merry goose-chase around the timeline.
Relationships: Dave/Klaus Hargreeves
Series: The Umbrella Academy are just a bunch of Misfits [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643212
Comments: 44
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, we're back. 
> 
> This fic will lead on from where Family Affair left off, but basically, when the siblings time jumped from the theatre they landed in 2009, met Nathan and then shenanigans. Family Affair ended with the siblings as 20 year olds in 2009, holed up in a hotel suite while Five worked out their next move after Hazel and Cha Cha kidnapped Nathan and Klaus, leaving Klaus with a gunshot wound to the leg. Klaus is sober, Dave is a ghost, Ben is alive and Luther is trying.
> 
> There's a bit of time travelling in the first couple of chapters, but from there on it's pretty much all Vietnam + angry Five trying to fix it. Enjoy!

Nathan flushes the toilet and stands into a luxurious stretch. He scratches his belly as he stumbles over to the mirror, yawning widely. His fluffy curls that are in need of a trim are unevenly pushed to one side of his head, squashed by his pillow. 

They’ve been back in the mansion for just over two weeks now. Being stuck in the one hotel suite together for ten days proved too much for the eight siblings, although it was convenient while they worked out what to do now that they were back stateside but still stuck in 2009. The situation was made even worse by the fact they were still in their 20 year old bodies, which Luther was for some reason enjoying, while Nathan could tell Diego had enough. Something to do with his ‘glow up’ coming later in life - well, according to Klaus anyways.

Unsurprisingly, it was Five who broke first.

Klaus ‘practicing’ his powers of summoning Dave at all hours of the night was already grating on everyone’s nerves, especially with the activities that often accompanied his successful attempts. Five did not appreciate having to listen to the breathy moans and giggles coming from the bathroom. 

Then came Allison’s inability to clean up after herself left no flat surface free for Five to place his coffee. 

The final straw was after Vanya and Ben came back to the hotel room with Indian take away.

Luther’s sensitive digestive system was somewhat unfamiliar with hot spices and curries, and with one toilet in a small space, the repercussions were catastrophic. 

The rest of the siblings covered their noses and mouths with whatever they could find. Ben had helped Klaus hobble back to their room (his shot-up leg still healing) and stuffed a towel under their door to keep the smell out, leaving Nathan, Diego and Vanya to suffer in the main lounge. 

Five had already flashed Allison back to the mansion. He dragged his sister up to speak with their father and the next thing they knew, Reginald and Pogo had decided that their life’s ambition had in fact been to take a three week holiday in Florida, timeline be damned.

Well, maybe not quite _timeline be damned_. Ever since moving back into the mansion, the little assassin had been spending every spare second running calculations to counteract their interference. Nathan had heard him muttering about it in his sleep.

The timeline is delicate and all that. 

Nathan takes a quick shower then steps out and wraps a monogrammed towel around his waist. He leaves the bathroom, bypassing the room down the corridor that the siblings have assigned to him and heading straight to Klaus’ room. His brother’s leg still isn’t completely healed and without being able to take pain killers now that he’s sober, it’s left his twin virtually immobile. Diego had tried to teach him how to use crutches until Klaus tried them on the stairs. 

Nathan had been very grateful that Vanya was practicing her powers when she caught their cartwheeling brother before he cracked his jaw against the bottom step. 

Instead, after Klaus damaged his splint for the third time ( _How was I meant to know it would be so hard to get out of the bath?_ ), Luther came up with the idea of a plaster cast.

The bullet from Cha Cha’s gun had done enough damage to Klaus’ flesh without also nicking the bone of his thigh, just above his knee. Five had tried to keep it stable, but nothing about Klaus was stable.

The other siblings had been dubious about whether a cast was necessary for Klaus’ injury until Vanya pointed out how much a cast long enough to cover almost all of Klaus’ ridiculously long leg would weigh. The siblings had shared a look before all adamantly agreeing. 

A heavy cast attached to one of Klaus’ legs was exactly what they needed to slow their brother down and keep him out of trouble.

Klaus had groused about the plaster at the start but proved the need for it when he cracked it within the first twelve hours. Diego had walked in on Nathan trying to patch it back together with spac filler. Since then, Klaus had decorated the cast with numerous drawings and doodles. Allison had added pink glitter glue along his shin next to where Vanya revealed her hidden artistic talents with an incredibly realistic drawing of a running horse in full flight. She had blushed profusely when Luther praised the picture and asked who drew it. Nathan had added a lewd song along the back of Klaus’ thigh that had made Five’s cheeks flush when he did his daily check up on Klaus’ recovery. Even Ben had added a sketch of Klaus’ Sky Soldier’s tattoo, well, at least as well as he could remember it, earning him a teary smile from his brother. 

Just under two weeks later and Nathan can see Klaus starting to crack under the restriction to his movement. He’s been trying to keep him distracted as much as possible.

The mansion is silent as Nathan’s bare feet pad down the corridor. Grace must be downstairs dusting or cooking or doing whatever she does through the day. Five, Allison and Ben are training Vanya in a state forest an hour’s drive away while someone had let Diego and Luther loose together to pick up some supplies from the supermarket. 

“Wakey wakey, hands off snakey!” Nathan calls out as he throws Klaus’ bedroom door open. There’s a crash then a flurry of movement as Klaus throws the blanket over _something_ on his bed and sits up bolt straight, before deciding that lounging against his bed head would be less conspicuous. He’s fully dressed, well, fully dressed for Klaus, which means harem pants and a white t-shirt that’s a bit too short. 

“Nath, what are you doing here?” Klaus asks theatrically, his voice a little too high.

“Is that how you greet your brother?” Nathan responds with an arched eyebrow, leaning back against the door frame. Klaus lets out a breathy giggle.

“Ha, no, you just surprised me is all. I thought you were with the others?”

Nathan blows a raspberry.

“Standing around watching Vanya try to move shit while Five scribbles in that notebook? No thanks. And there’s no way I wasn’t going to be getting involved in the Luther-Diego disaster.”

He pushes off the door frame and plonks down on Klaus’ bed, taking care not to jostle his leg that’s stretched out along the mattress. Klaus’ eyes dart to the boxy shaped lump under his blankets.

“Please don’t tell me you have Dave hidden under there,” Nathan teases, his hand reaching towards the edge of the blanket. Klaus swats it away hurridley. His face is flushed.

Klaus looks flustered. Klaus is never flustered. 

“Whatcha got there Klaussy?” Nathan asks, staring at his brother. Klaus is doing all he can to avoid eye contact. It’s making Nathan start to worry.

His first thought is that he’s relapsed. They had talked about it, he and the others. They all know it’s a likely scenario for someone with Klaus’ history. 

It doesn’t explain the big box-shaped bundle under his blanket though. 

Nathan reaches for the blanket again only to have Klaus’ vice-like fingers close around his wrist. 

“Don’t.”

“Klaus.” Nathan looks back at his brother’s pleading green eyes. “What have you got under there?”

“It’s nothing . . .”

“ _Klaus_ ,” Nathan repeats carefully, “You’re making me worry . . .”

“It’s nothing bad!” Klaus says quickly, forcing a smile over his face. “No drugs. Scout’s honour.”

Nathan relaxes. Klaus is entitled to his secrets. His siblings have been micromanaging every part of his life since he got clean, even worse since he got shot. Nathan didn’t know how Klaus was tolerating it.

“OK, I believe you.”

Klaus lets go of Nathan’s wrist, letting his head drop. 

“Thanks.”

Klaus is allowed to have his secrets.

Just not from Nathan. 

Nathan takes the opportunity to lunge at the blanket and throw it off. A black leather box is revealed on his bed. Klaus grabs at Nathan who dodges his noodle arms and leaps over the bed to grab the box. Klaus attempts to jump after him, but telling from the choked-off cry his injured leg has stopped him. He slides to the floor, gasping. Nathan leaps back, hugging the box to his chest. He looks down at the item in his arms. 

It’s not a box, it’s a briefcase. 

Five’s briefcase. The one he took from Hazel and Cha Cha and used to bring them all to the Academy.

“What are you doing with this?” Nathan shouts, waving the briefcase in the air. 

Klaus’ eyes are wide in panic as he grabs at his leg with one hand, slumped against the side of his bed. 

Nathan doesn’t realise he has the case upside down. His hand slips over what he thinks is the bottom hinge but turns out to be the locking function. 

The case opens. 

Klaus shouts out, hands stretched out towards his brother. 

Nathan feels an intolerable pressure squeezing every molecule in his body. Just as he feels like his body is about to combust into a liquid, the feeling stops. There’s a _thwip_ and a blue flash and he’s landing hard in a heap of limbs on a scratchy motel floor. 

Nathan scrambles to his feet, refastening his towel around his waist more securely. He’s in a dimly lit room with two beds covered in floral bedspreads. A motel. 

There’s a rotund cleaning lady staring at him, vacuum running in her hand. She takes out her earphones and switches off the machine.

“Err, hi? I was just . . . “

She yanks the cord out of the wall and waddles hurriedly out of the room, dragging the vacuum behind her. 

Nathan lets out a breath, slumping onto the edge of the bed. He runs his hands through his still-damp hair. It really is too long.

The others might think he’s an idiot, but Nathan’s not stupid. He’s time travelled. He places the briefcase next to him on the bed and leans his elbows on his knees. He wonders idly whether Klaus was intending to time travel here, and if he was, why? The hotel room has a strong musty smell. The decor is so dated it’s hard to tell if he’s moved forwards or back in time. 

He hears a noise that makes him freeze. A whine. He holds his breath, listening for the sound. 

He hears it again. Heavy breathing. 

Coming from the wardrobe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben's onto Klaus. Meanwhile, Nathan braves the closet in the hotel room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that started reading Chapter 1 before 22/6, I've added more details to help fill in some holes. Chapter updates will be a little faster now that I have the whole thing drafted up.

**2009 - the future past**

Ben arrives back from Vanya’s training later that night to find Klaus struggling to pace around his bedroom, a task that is made more difficult by the thigh-high cast that is encasing his leg. 

“What’s got you all wound up?” Ben asks, throwing his scarf down on Klaus’ dresser. Klaus’ head snaps up. He’s still wringing his hands over his stomach. 

“Nothing . . . er, nothing at all. Everything’s fine, dandy in fact.”

Klaus plasters a grin over his face. Ben knows that grin.

“Alright, spit it out.”

Klaus’ grin shifts into genuine glee. Ben holds up his hand quickly.

“And before you try changing the subject, yes I know I just said _spit it out_ and I also know that there are a multitude of _witty_ quips that are filling that peanut brain of yours, but let’s try to stick to the subject.”

Klaus stick out his tongue, rolling his eyes. “That’s _not_ what I was about to say Benny boy. Just because you followed me around all those years doesn’t mean you know _everything_ about me.”

“That’s exactly what it means,” Ben deadpans, folding his arms over his chest. He leans against the dresser. “Alright then, what were you going to say?”

Klaus opens his mouth, then closes it again, squinting at Ben before throwing his hands in the air in defeat.

“Okay, okay, _maybe_ I was going to make a blow job joke, but I swear you’ll really like it . . .”

“ _Klaus_ ,” Ben groans. “Answer the goddamn question. What are you hiding?”

Ben is pretty sure it isn’t drugs. He wouldn’t . . . he promised. He would be more relaxed if he was high, or far more jittery. Besides, Klaus is virtually trapped on this floor with that cast on his leg. 

Klaus collapses back on the bed with a huff. “I told you, I’m not hiding _anything_.”

“I call bullshit.” He looks around the room. Nothing seems broken or out of place. He sticks his head out into the corridor. Everything seems fine, normal. 

“Did you ruin one of Diego’s knives trying to get the peanut butter jar open again?”

“No,” Klaus replies petulantly, still lying back on the bed. 

“You didn’t try to play Vanya’s violin again?”

“No!”

“You know Allison will kill you if you tear another one of her skirts trying to get it on with that cast -”

“I didn’t!”

Klaus is definitely hiding something. If only someone had been with him this morning that he could ask . . . 

“Klaus . . . where’s Nathan?”

Klaus sits up suddenly.

“Erm, I don’t know? Who am I, his keeper? He’s a free spirit that one, always wandering off. Need to put a bell on him or something!” he says all too quickly, followed by a hollow laugh. 

Ben knows he’s getting warmer. This has something to do with his twin. 

Thoughts flit through his mind. Nathan going out to get Klaus drugs ( _no way, Nathan knows how much seeing Dave means to him_ ), Klaus and Nathan having a fight ( _but Klaus looks anxious, not upset which he always is after a fight with his siblings_ ), Nathan getting in some sort of trouble, owing someone money ( _more likely, but surely he’d just come to the Hargreeves and ask for help?_ ).

“Klaus, you know that no matter what you can talk to me,” Ben says, his tone serious. “I won’t judge you. No matter what, I’d help you.”

Klaus bites his lip, nodding. 

“Thanks Ben, that means a lot.” 

That fake smile stretches back across his face. “But seriously, nothing is up.” 

Ben sighs, picking up his scarf. 

“Okay, okay.”

Ben leaves the room with the resolve to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.

**2019 - Apocalypse week**

Nathan is searching the mouldy bathroom of a motel room for something that can be used as a weapon. He settles on tearing down the shower curtain. He knows the Hargreeves have probably been trained to be able to use it to strangle someone (Klaus did know how to kill someone with a toaster), but his approach at this stage is most likely to be a throw-it-at-them-and-run kind of scenario. He gathers the plastic curtain in his hands, trying not to think about the slimy film coating it.

A dull thud from the other room snaps him out of his thoughts. Holding the curtain up in front of him like a shield, he creeps past the twin beds towards the cupboard. The whimpering has started again. Taking a deep breath to try and slow his pounding heart, he places his fingers over the plastic door handle. The curtain rustles as he lets it go to hang in his other hand. The sound stops. 

_Shit_. Whatever or whoever it is has heard him.

No point waiting now.

He pulls the door open, throws the curtain into the dark cupboard and runs backwards to put some space between them, arms held out in a position he may possibly be copying from a Jackie Chan movie. 

The curtain slides to the ground. 

His first thought is that time travel is completely fucked up and that he’s looking at himself in the cupboard. Then he looks at the man’s eyes.

“ _Klaus?_ ”

He’s skinnier than the Klaus he knows (which he can easily tell because _he too_ is only wearing a towel), and his skin is more worn, but it’s him. Nathan rushes forward, hands hovering over his brother’s sweating body. 

“Mmph, mmmmph!”

Right, the tape. Nathan rips away the duct tape covering his twin’s mouth. Klaus lets out a gasp, his eyes rolling up to meet Nathan’s. 

He’s not in good shape. There’s dried blood pooling in the rivets of his neck that seem to be coming from his ears. His hair is soaking wet, matted down with something dark on one side. Nathan tugs uselessly at the tape on his wrists before kneeling down to bite through it. He wishes he had one of Diego’s knives. Klaus’ arms are trembling. 

This Klaus isn’t sober. This Klaus hasn’t been sober for a while.

What the _fuck_ was _his_ Klaus doing trying to time travel to _this_?

When Klaus is finally free, Nathan hooks his arms under his twin’s armpits and hauls him to his feet.

“C’mon, we have to get you out of here.” 

“R’ you . .” Klaus mumbles into Nathan’s ear. His glassy eyes roll towards Nathan’s, but never quite make it. “R’ you m’ghost?”

Nathan drags Klaus to one of the beds with a laugh.

“No, I’m your brother, you idiot. Remember?”

Klaus tries to hold himself upright on the mattress, staring at Nathan. His eyes are completely unfocused. 

Klaus doesn’t know him. 

Or maybe, Klaus doesn’t know him _yet_. 

Nathan spots a scruffy black jacket with fake fur trim that just has to be Klaus’. He scoops it up when he hears voices at the door.

“ _I’m telling you, we need to take a stand. They can’t treat us like this.”_

_“And I’m telling you to keep focused on this job. Now get the door open. Wonder if the junkie’s still alive.”_

Nathan knows those voices. He still has nightmares about those voices.

He spins around to Klaus, who has jumped to his feet with surprising control. His brother scrambles over the other bed, crouching by the front window.

“Klaus!” Nathan hisses, listening as the two assassins bicker about the housekeeping sign. “We have to go!”

Nathan runs around to the other side of the bed where his brother is hiding.

No, not hiding. Prying the cover to the air vent off. 

Good idea. 

Klaus shimmies his skinny frame into the opening. Nathan pushes the coat in front of him, following after, one hand hanging onto his towel. 

The vent ends in some kind of laundry room. Klaus kicks off the grill with his bare feet and tumbles out, Nathan following behind him. He doesn’t waste time, grabbing his injured brother’s arm and dragging him towards the door. 

He peers around the corner, but it seems Hazel and Cha Cha haven’t followed them yet. It won’t take them long though. He pulls his dazed brother across the car park towards the main road. 

Why would Klaus want to go through all that again? His brother rarely spoke about the first time Hazel and Cha Cha tortured him, and Nathan didn’t want to pry. He looks back at the pale man he’s dragging down the street, wearing nothing but a towel, although he can’t really judge considering he’s dressed exactly the same. He ducks them both into a small alley between a green grocer and a laundromat, leaning Klaus against the wall.

Klaus is clutching something in his hand. The handle of a very familiar looking briefcase, but this one doesn’t have the deep gouge in the leather that the case like the one Nathan used moments ago. He looks around as if expecting to find the first case when he realises he left it behind in the hotel room. 

“Where did you find that?” Nathan asks, pointing at the case.

“Vent,” Klaus mumbles, holding it closer to his leg. 

“Okay, just make sure you don’t open it. Alright - that’s important.”

So this must be the case Klaus found when he travelled to Vietnam. Nathan is starting to understand what Klaus had been trying to do. 

“How are you doing?” Nathan asks as he unfolds Klaus’ coat. He holds it up, deciding instead to try and thread Klaus’ arms into it when his brother doesn’t make any movement to put it on. 

“Who’r you?” he rasps, head tipping back against the bricks once Nathan gets his other arm into the jacket. 

Nathan knew that Klaus had been into drugs, but he had just pictured him as someone who partied too hard. One of those guys you saw at a club at the end of the night with eyes like dinner plates, chewing on their own tongue, or that random stranger you found passed out behind the couch after a house party. 

When Luther had called him a junkie back in London, Nathan just thought he was being a twat. 

Looking at his gaunt brother looking more like a skeleton rattling inside a bag of translucent skin, he realises how bad it really got for Klaus. The marked arms now hidden in the sleeves of his jacket. The neat scars on his wrists. The thinning hair plastered over his head and skin stretched tight over his ribs.

He’s an addict.

“I know this is going to sound nuts, but, well . . .” Nathan runs a hand through his hair. “So, you know how Five can time travel, yeah? Well, in your future, fuck this is hard to explain - in your future, you like time travelled to where I’m from, in London.”

“Y’sound Irish,” Klaus says. 

Nathan rolls his eyes. “Trust me, there are thousands of us in London. Anyways, we worked out that we are actually twins, separated at birth, fancy that!” Nathan holds his hands out to add to the surprise. “And yeah, we have kinda been hanging out ever since.”

“You look young,” Klaus rasps, finishing with a hacking cough. Nathan pats him awkwardly on the shoulder. 

“Well, I’m twenty. I’m from 2009, so like, from the past, but your future I guess . . . How old are you?”

Klaus shrugs, then peers down at the hospital tag still bracelting his wrist. 

“Twenty-nine.”

So it’s 2018, or 2019 depending on what month it is. No, it must be 2019, that’s when the Apocalypse happened the first time. Nathan’s heart stutters as he realises that he’s in the future. 

The actual _future_.

He peeks out of the alley way. The street is busy and both of them are dressed in towels. He also has no idea where he is or how far the Academy is. He needs a plan. Nathan wracks his brain for the stories that Klaus and the others told of the Apocalypse week. Were the rest of the siblings back at the house? Or had Vanya already destroyed it? If he can just get Klaus to Five and explain what happened, maybe the little terror can fix this whole mess. 

Or maybe Klaus can just disobey the one direction he was given and shakily open the briefcase.

“No you twat!” Nathan cries as he grabs Klaus’ wrist. 

There’s a flash of blue light and then for the second time in the hour he is being squeezed through a garlic mincer. 

Another flash of blue light and a soft _thwap_ and Nathan lands flat on his back. He doesn’t know whether it’s the fall or the second bout of time travel, but he’s winded. 

Nope, it’s the bony elbow jabbed in his side that’s done it. Nathan pushes Klaus off him, rolling onto all fours to try and get his breath back. His gasps suck in the dust from the filthy floor under his hands. 

There’s voices shouting around him, heavy boots rushing past his face. He looks up to see a kind of stretcher bed in front of him. 

Lying on top is a man that Nathan has never seen alive. 

_Dave_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wheeeee, can't wait for Dave!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone's onto future Klaus while in Vietnam Nathan struggles to warm to the past version of his brother.

**2009 - the future past**

It’s not that he’s been avoiding him per se. 

Okay, fine, that’s exactly what he’s been doing, but he just needs some time to work this out. Surely Nathan will just reset the dials, open the briefcase and jump straight back?

Klaus is holed up under his father’s desk in his study, searching through his notes for anything he can find on time travel. So far, he hasn’t understood a word of it. 

“ _Klaus_ -”

Shit. 

Klaus stuffs the papers behind his back.

“Oh, hi Dave! I was wondering where you got to -”

“So you thought you’d look under here?” his ghostly boyfriend asks, crouching in front of Klaus’ splayed out legs, one eyebrow arched. 

“Well, you know how it is, just needed a little ‘me’ time . . .”

Dave holds out a hand to stop him.

“Klaus, I know what happened.”

“W-whatever do you mean?” Klaus asks, pushing the papers further under his bum. 

“Klaus, I’m a ghost. Even if I’m not around, I’m always around.”

“What, you mean you’re always watching me? Even when I’m, like, asleep? That’s kinda kinky Dave -”

Dave cuts him off with a groan. “You have to tell Five.”

Klaus shakes his head vigorously. “Oh no, no way, he’ll kill me and he knows three-hundred and seventy-five ways to do it and exactly where to hide my body. Nu-uh, no way. I can find a way to fix it, I’m getting close.”

Dave reaches between Klaus’ legs and pulls out one of the books he’s been sitting on. He holds it up on the page Klaus had it opened at. 

“So you understand quantum physics now?” Dave asks accusingly. Klaus crosses his arms petulantly.

“Maybe I do. Maybe I’m like, really, really smart and just never told you.”

“Klaus, I’ve seen you put a knife in a toaster.”

“An experiment! Just testing how the metal conduces electricity.”

“Conducts?” 

Klaus huffs, slumping back against the inside of the desk. 

“Fine, I’ve got no fucking idea what to do.”

Dave sits down, one arm slung over his knee. He wears a pair of dark denim jeans now with a plaid button up rolled up to his elbows that makes Klaus’ knees weak (well, weaker than the injured one already is). Originally Klaus had tried to use his powers to dress him in a pair of skin tight leather pants, but Ben had helped Dave resist and choose his own outfit. As much as it wasn’t Klaus’ style, it still did things for him deep below. 

Dave reaches forwards and takes Klaus’ fidgeting hand in his own. 

“What were you even doing with that briefcase?” he asks.

Klaus looks up at Dave with soft eyes. 

“I was going to save you, silly.”

Dave’s face falls.

“Oh Klaus, baby. Come here.”

Klaus crawls out from under the desk and folds himself into Dave’s lap. He presses his forehead into Dave’s neck as his boyfriend runs his fingers through Klaus’ locks. 

Dave presses a kiss into the top of his head. 

“So now Nathan is in Vietnam with a time travelling briefcase?”

“Well . . . not quite.”

Ben softly closes the door to the study and slinks away. 

Shit.

**1968 - Vietnam**

Nathan doesn’t particularly like bus rides. When he was in primary school back in Ireland, he would always have to sit up the front of the bus after he’d spewed in Jamie Coughlan’s hair on the way to a dairy farm in grade three. At least he’d managed a window seat, though he had to push his brother out of the way to get it. 

Klaus didn’t mind after he realised it put him closer to Dave.

“Did you just get into country?” Dave asks, leaning forwards in his seat. Klaus almost gurgles back. 

“Oh, yeah.”

“I’m Dave,” he says, holding out a hand. Nathan swears he’s flexing. He makes a note to tease his Dave when he gets back home.

“Hi, I’m Nathan,” he interrupts, leaning over Klaus. “And this is my brother Klaus.”

Klaus glares at him before turning back to Dave with a big smile. 

Nathan rolls his eyes and slumps back against the window.

“Er, hi,” Dave says with a chuckle, although he’s only got eyes for Klaus. Nathan slumps back in his seat, leaving them to it as Klaus makes small talk. 

They stop for a while at a small camp made up of four tents in a clearing at the end of a bumpy road. Sarge, a short man built like a mountain goat with a long face to match, tells them to stretch their legs while they drop off whatever it was that they were meant to drop off. Nathan follows Klaus off the bus, grateful to get some fresh air. 

The boys join the other soldiers taking a leak in the bushes off to the side of the camp before Sarge yells at them for pissing so close to where people are sleeping. A dark haired guy who would look more at home on a football field shouts something back at Sarge with a grin that Nathan doesn’t catch, but the other guys laugh at. 

Klaus wanders over to a rock on the other side of the bus and lounges over it like a cat in the sun. Nathan slumps next to him, legs splayed out. 

He places his gun carefully on the ground. Some guy handed it to him that morning with a helmet and a pair of cargo pants. Fuck, he hopes it isn’t loaded, he isn’t keen to get shot again, especially by accident. 

“So, we’re brothers,” Klaus asks, shading his eyes from the sun with his forearm. 

“Twins.”

“But you’re from a different time.”

“Yeah. Five, like, jumps you guys back to my time. We meet - Five thinks it was like planned or some bullshit. Something to do with the timeline.”

Klaus groans. 

“Sounds like Five.”

Sarge is yelling at someone about something called MRE’s. 

“So that would have been trippy when we met the first time,” Klaus says lazily. 

“Well, yeah, you could say that. We got into a fight actually.”

Klaus rolls his head towards Nathan, finally looking at him. 

“Yeah? Who won?”

“I did, obviously,” Nathan jokes, hoping for a reaction from Klaus. Honestly, he’ll take good or bad at this point. He knows Klaus is going through some hard withdrawals after being tortured and dropped in a war zone, but those walls his brother is putting up are thick.

Dave wanders over. Nathan notices the soldier trying not to look at Klaus’ long body stretched out over the rock. 

“Geez, didn’t they teach you anything in basic?” he asks Nathan instead, pointing towards his rifle. Unknowingly, Nathan has edged away from the weapon.

“It’s not a snake about to bite you.”

“It’ll put a hole in me just the same,” Nathan retorts. Dave picks it up from the dusty ground and sets it against another rock. His eyes flit to Klaus who is pretending to ignore the conversation.

“You shouldn’t leave it like that either or you’ll be cleaning it every five seconds.”

“You have to clean it?”

Dave’s eyebrows rise into his blondish hair. “Did you learn anything in basic?”

“What do you mean by anything?” Nathan asks with a smirk. 

Dave rolls his eyes. 

“When we get back to camp, I’ll show you how to use that thing and keep it firing. I can show both of you if you like.”

“That would be swell Dave,” Klaus says, lifting his forearm away from his face long enough to flutter his eyelashes at him. Dave’s cheeks flush.

“Back on the bus before I leave you in this shithole,” Sarge calls out.

The way Klaus talks about Vietnam had made Nathan think that it was all discos, drink and drugs. Sure, there was the terrible end part which Klaus avoided discussing at all costs, and for good reason, but Nathan is starting to realise that Klaus has been leaving out a whole lot of other details. 

Nathan’s first ‘contact’ happens only a few minutes after he gets back on that bus.

Contact, it turns out, is the army word for shit hitting the fan. 

There’s a fallen palm tree blocking the road. A few of the other soldiers watch the bushes while the rest of them are instructed by Sarge to move the fallen tree.

Within seconds, there’s panicked shouts.

The first thing Nathan realises is how _loud_ the guns are. 

The second thing is that the only way that Klaus could have survived Vietnam had to be Dave. 

The bigger man pulls both Klaus and Nathan flat against the rocky ground as soon as the gunfire starts. He slings his gun off his back and positions himself in front of the brothers, firing back into the jungle bushes. Nathan looks over at Klaus who is holding his hands over his ears. Nathan would do the same if he wasn’t too scared to move. 

As quickly as it starts, the gunfire stops. Dave taps them both on the shoulder, then makes some sort of complicated hand signal, still crouched down, searching out the bushes with his gun. Nathan and Klaus exchange confused looks until Dave takes pity on them and hisses _get back on the bus_.

Nathan is still shaking hours later back at the base as he drops his metal plate and cup into the wash tub. He’s barely eaten and he knows food will be hard to come by, but he couldn’t eat any more if he tried. Instead he sits back down on the bench seat next to Klaus, who is shuffling his own mushy beige slop around the plate, head propped up in his hand.

“Are you okay?” Nathan asks. Klaus gives him a tight smile, making only fleeting eye contact. 

“Yeah, yeah, fine. You?”

“Need a clean pair of underwear, but otherwise I’m fine.” 

Klaus breathes out a smirk. 

“Crazy, eh?”

“Yeah.” 

Nathan looks over his brother. The blood has been washed away (Dave had shown Klaus to the shower block the night before looking very concerned with Klaus insisting that he was _completely fine_ ), but the bruising hasn’t faded. The cheek Klaus is resting in his hand (or covering in his hand) is still swollen and bruised, although the dark band of bruises around his neck are worse, even with the collar of his khaki jacket popped to hide them. 

The part that concerns Nathan the most though is the layer of sweat beading on his pallid skin. 

“How long has it been?” Nathan asks in a low voice, giving Klaus a meaningful stare. His brother waves a tattooed hand dismissively at him. 

“C’mon Klaus, how long has it been since you had your last hit?”

His brother’s green eyes flash up at him maliciously. 

“Fuck off.”

Nathan holds his hands out defensively. He’s known Klaus to be pouty and sulky and even surly when he has to get up early, but never angry. This twenty-nine year old version with his sunken dead eyes is almost scary.

“I’m not having a go, I’m trying to help you. In the past, I mean the future, I mean - urg! When we meet, you get sober. And I guess I didn’t really know what to do then, I mean Ben did most of the heavy lifting . . . “

Klaus stands up so suddenly that he almost flips the bench over. Nathan stumbles, grabbing onto the metal table to save himself landing on his back. 

“Shut your mouth about Ben,” Klaus hisses, finger pointed in Nathan’s face. His eyes are wild and mean in a way that Nathan has never seen. A few other guys have turned to watch.

Klaus snatches up his dishes and climbs over the bench, leaning into Nathan’s ear. 

“And you must be on another planet with Luther if you think I’m getting sober.”

Nathan keeps his distance from Klaus for the rest of the night, instead taking a walk in the dark around the base to clear his thoughts. 

Logically, he knows he should grab that briefcase and flash back to 2009 (if he can even figure out how to work it), but what does he do about Klaus? Does he leave him here to fight in the war for almost a year only to lose Dave again? What does he do about Dave? Should he grab him and take him back? But he barely knows Klaus in this timeline.

He thinks about how much more that would hurt his brother. Maybe they could fall in love in 2009? Or maybe the shock would be too much and Klaus and Dave would never be a thing. 

Or maybe he could stay a bit. Wait for things to play out, then once it looks like _it’s happened_ between Klaus and Dave, then jump them back before Dave has a chance to die. He vaguely remembers from Klaus’ flashbacks and nightmares and the tiny bit he told Nathan that it happened when they were sent to the front around ten months into his time in Vietnam. 

Even months later, Klaus is still waking up screaming for a medic that never comes. 

All he has to do is wait for Klaus to fall in love with Dave and for Dave to fall in love with Klaus, then he just has to get them back to 2009 before they go to the front. 

All while dealing with a withdrawing Klaus who doesn’t remember him and is being a downright twat.

Easy. 

Dave finds him later that night just before lights out. Nathan had thought he had a pretty good hiding spot wedged between two jeeps, but the soldier had found him. 

Without a word, Dave sits next to Nathan and offers him a smoke. Nathan accepts, fumbling with the matchbook handed to him to light it. It’s weird thinking about goody-two-shoes Dave smoking, but it is 1968 and no-one knows any better. There’s no way future Dave would ever condone smoking, he doesn’t even like Klaus drinking cordial. 

“Back home, I’ve got two sisters and a brother,” Dave starts. “I was never really close with my brother, but Maggie and I, we used to argue like cat and dog. She’s the other middle child, you see. We never saw eye to eye on anything, but of all the things I miss about home, she’s the one I miss the most.”

Nathan takes a long drag, blowing the smoke out his nose. 

“I’ve got a brother back home as well.”

“Another one?”

Nathan tries to explain. “Yeah, there’s another one. Actually, Klaus has like six brothers and sisters. He was kind of adopted out, we only met each other pretty recently.”

Dave nods. It must sound like a likely story, a child born with parents too young to look after them, having more kids years later. 

“What’s your other brother like?”

“He’s my twin, actually.”

“A twin?” Dave asks in surprise.

“Yeah. He’s funny - but not as funny as I am.”

Dave shakes his head with a wry smile. 

“So you don’t know Klaus that well then?”

Nathan shakes his head. “I thought I did, but . . .”

How could the Klaus he knew be so different to this Klaus? There was, what, just over a year’s difference between his Klaus and this rough, spiteful version of Klaus. What could have happened in a year?

“This place changes everything,” Dave finishes. He stands up, holding a hand out to Nathan.

“Give it some time, things will settle down.”

Nathan nods and lets Dave lead him back to their barrack tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: the family find out and Klaus and Nathan get into the groove of things


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus' secret is out with his siblings and in Vietnam things mellow between the two brothers.

**2009**

“Klaus, come down stairs!” Ben calls out. 

“I’m not hungry!” Klaus calls back from his bedroom. 

He knows he has to tell Five, it’s just . . . 

Dave has left him on his own after helping him back to his room with instructions to gather himself together and get ready to tell his brother. 

Klaus has other ideas. They include stalling and avoiding his siblings at all costs. 

Ben jolts the door open, startling Klaus. He almost falls off the bed.

“Christ on a cracker Ben, I said I wasn’t hungry!”

Ben’s eyes don’t rise to meet his own. “Family meeting,” Ben says before walking out to leave Klaus to struggle down the stairs.

There’s no way they could know, right?

Thankfully Luther finds him struggling down the stairs and carries Klaus piggy-back style the rest of the way down. Klaus hopes his brother can’t feel his heart pounding in his chest.   
“Any idea what this is about, _mein bruder_?” Klaus asks, trying to keep his voice even.

Luther shrugs. “No idea, but hopefully it doesn’t take long. Mom’s made lasagna.”

They can’t know. No, this must be about something else.

Luther dumps Klaus onto the couch and takes a seat next to him. Everyone else is here, strewn over the furniture. Ben is standing over near the door, lurking like he did when he was a ghost. 

“What’s this about?” Diego asks, spinning a knife absently in his hands. “Mom made lasagna.”

Five throws his hands up. “I dunno, ask Ben.”

Ben glances over at Klaus before looking quickly back at his shoes.

_Oh no, not you Ben. Don’t dob me in._

Ben’s voice is so soft, Klaus almost misses it. 

“Klaus has something to tell you.”

“Ben, you traitor,” Klaus hisses. Ben looks away, staring at the fireplace.

Allison’s face falls, her elegant fingers covering her mouth. “Oh Klaus, it’s okay,” she says softly in a motherly tone that Klaus can imagine her using on Claire. “We’re here for you.”

Luther places a heavy hand on Klaus’ knee, smiling tightly at him. 

Klaus stares quizzically back at his brother. 

“Guys, I haven’t relapsed.”

Vanya shuffles forwards on her arm chair, leaning towards him. “It’s okay Klaus, we aren’t here to judge.”

Klaus tries to leap out of his seat, but is hampered by the confounded cast. “No, seriously, I haven’t relapsed! See!” 

He closes his eyes and seeks out the tingly feeling that now always sits deep in his soul. When his eyes open, Dave is standing before him, leaning against the pillar. 

“Klaus, you need to tell them.”

Not Dave too.

“Tell us what?” Diego asks, stilling the knife. Five leans forwards.

Oh God, he can’t look at Five when he says this.

“Klaus,” Dave says firmly.

“I know I know, just give me a sec babe.” 

Klaus looks up at the ornate ceiling and takes a deep breath before focusing on the rug.

“Well, firstly, I’d like to say my intentions were good.” 

“Oh no,” Diego mutters, running a hand over his face. “This can’t be good.”

Dave wanders over to the couch. Luther shuffles over, leaving room for Dave to sit next to Klaus who’s breathing has become a lot louder. Dave takes one of Klaus’ hands in his own, rubbing big circles over his back with the other.

“C’mon Klaus, you have to tell them.”

Klaus closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, focusing on Dave’s touch.

“Okay, okay,” he says, shaking his hands out. 

He opens his eyes and looks at the moose head on the wall. Even the moose looks like he’s judging him for fucking up, yet again.

“I borrowed the briefcase from Five’s room and I was just looking at it when Nathan came in and accidentally opened it.”

Klaus immediately hides his face in his hands, riding out the intense silence. 

“Wait,” Diego says slowly. “What?”

“Klaus, where is Nathan?” Allison asks carefully. 

Klaus drops his hands away.

“I don’t exactly know. He should be in 2019.”

He doesn’t see who groans. 

“What the hell were you doing with the briefcase?” Diego asks in a voice more high pitched than Klaus knew his brother possessed.

Klaus looks up at Dave’s beautiful smile. He squeezes his hand supportively. 

“Oh, _oh_ ,” Vanya says. 

“Oh? What does oh mean?” Luther asks. 

Diego rolls his eyes, flinging a knife at Luther which hits him handle-first in the chest. 

“Diego,” Allison tuts. She turns to Luther. 

“Klaus was going to go back and get Dave.”

“So what does that mean for us?” Vanya asks, looking up at Five. The others all turn to their time travel expert.

Five doesn’t move for such a long time that Klaus is questioning whether he was even listening. He’s leaning forwards on the leather arm chair, his head buried in his hands. He lets his hands drop, but his twisted fingers look anything but relaxed.

“It means that after weeks and weeks of delicate calculations, those _idiots_ have done the equivalent of taking a bowling ball and smashing the timeline to pieces.”

“Five,” Allison warns. 

“No, no, it’s fine,” Klaus says holding out his hands. “That’s completely fair, I fucked up. Only it wasn’t Nathan’s fault. It was mine. He was trying to stop me.”

The words tumble out of Klaus’ mouth like vomit. Bitter on the way out but bringing some relief to the awful feeling in his gut.

“Five?” Luther tries. 

Their smallest brother ignores them all and simply stands, brushes his jacket off and storms out of the room. A second later they hear the elevator going. Vanya’s eyes widen in fright, Allison instinctively moving towards her to wrap an arm around her. 

“I’m going to see what he’s doing,” Diego announces.

Klaus leans forward, attempting to rest his elbows on his knees. He has to see about getting this cast off. 

No one speaks until Diego gets back from the basement. 

“What’s he doing?” Luther asks.

Diego flops back into a chair. “He’s in the vault. He’s just yelling. Looks like he’s having a bit of a tantrum.”

Klaus lets out a wounded noise.

“I better go and talk to him,” he says trying to stand up.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea right now,” Allison says kindly. Klaus sighs, running a hand through his hair. He looks to Dave who helps him to his feet. He hobbles back towards the staircase, flashing a look at Ben. He knows Ben did the right thing, but still, it hurts. Why didn’t he just come and talk to him?

 _Because when he did, you lied,_ an unpleasant thought reminds him. 

Klaus pauses at the doorway without turning around.

“I’m sorry, I really am. If someone could tell Five . . .”

“We will,” Vanya’s voice replies. Klaus nods, allowing Dave to help him up the stairs. 

**1968 - Vietnam**

“Rise and shine!” 

Nathan groans, rubbing his eyes. It’s still dark when he opens them. 

“Fuckoff,” he mumbles, shooing away the hand that’s shaking his shoulder. Someone tuts playfully. 

“Are you going to tell Sarge that?” 

He sits up, drawing his knees to his chest. The cots aren’t the most comfortable, but they are surprisingly better than the thin mattress of the community centre back in London. 

“What’s going on?” he asks, squinting. There’s the glow of lamplight in the corner of the tent. It’s still dark from what he can see through the meshed window of the tent. He looks over to Klaus’ bed. It’s empty, the blankets thrown in a puddle at the foot of the bed. 

“Wake up call,” Dave’s mellow voice explains. 

The army sucks. 

A few minutes later in the cool glow of sunrise, Nathan is standing in line for the shower, clutching a standard issue toothbrush and a new packet of soap Dave gave him to his chest. His new boots are unlaced and heavy on his feet as he trudges forward in line. 

He knows it would make more sense to have a shower at night, but he hasn’t had a chance since landing in Vietnam and he’s starting to offend himself.

His thoughts wander to his brother and the plan he formulated the night before. There’s still a lot of holes to work through. Like what happens when he brings this grumpy Klaus back to 2009? Will there be two of them? Five will just have to sort that out because there is no way that Nathan could ever think about leaving Klaus behind in Vietnam, even if he is being a bitch. Also, he’s technically past-Klaus, so if Nathan leaves him to die in the jungle, future-Klaus might not even exist . . . 

It’s too early to think about time travel.

He’s second in line for the next shower when a guy swaggers in front of him, chatting to his mate. He’s got the kind of red hair that’s so dark it’s almost brown cut into a regulation short back and sides.

“Hey mate, end of the line’s back there,” Nathan says, tapping the bloke on the shoulder. The guy shakes his head, turning back to his mate. 

Nathan taps him harder, letting his fingers dig into the soft cavity behind the collarbone.

“Oi. End of the line’s back there.”

The guy turns around this time, no longer laughing. 

“So maybe I don’t wanna wait,” he sneers at Nathan. He’s not much taller, but unlike Nathan, he’s grown into his body. 

Nathan can sense the other guys in line turning to watch the spectacle.

“Not my fucking problem,” Nathan spits back, hands on his hips. “You aren’t cutting in.”

The redhead takes a step forward, sneering like a rottweiler. He pushes his shoulder into Nathan.

“What you gonna do about it, Twig-boy?”

Being immortal does very little for your self-preservation. Nathan squares up to him, puffing his skinny chest out. 

“Nathan, who’s your friend?” a cheery voice chirps.

Klaus. Of course. 

A skinny arm loops around his shoulders. Klaus is wearing his jacket (which he has already turned into a vest) without a shirt. He grins up at Red. 

“Irish here was just waiting his turn for the showers,” Red replies without turning around.

Klaus tuts dramatically. 

“I don’t think that’s exactly the whole truth now, _sweetheart_ , is it?” 

The man turns to Klaus, brown eyes darkening. 

“What did you call me?”

Klaus ignores him, continuing on with a flourish of his wrist. He leans the other elbow on Nathan’s shoulder.

“Nathan was clearly here first, but you seem to be in a hurry for the showers . . .” he says thoughtfully, resting his hand on Red’s heavy chest. He slinks forward in a way that Nathan can completely imagine Klaus using many times before. He’s never seen Klaus’ flirting in full flight, given that he’s been a one-ghost-man the whole time Nathan has known him, but if half of what Diego and Allison said is true, he hopes Klaus gets with Dave soon before he has to see any of it for himself.

“I mean, we could always share if you wanted to save time?” Klaus says with an exaggerated wink. 

Nathan feels the bottom of his stomach drop out. 

It’s 1968 in the United States Army and Klaus is making a pass at another male soldier in front of half the platoon. 

Nathan can feel the dozen pairs of eyes zeroed in on him and his brother who is grinning at what he thinks is the funniest comeback ever. 

The silence is broken by a cackle of laughter. Nathan looks up to see the football player guy from their barracks throwing his head back, nudging the skinny guy next to him who’s also sniggering.

A few other soldiers start to join in, laughing at Klaus’ theatrics as if it was all just a show and not his normal personality. 

Turns out Red likes being laughed at even less. 

He shoves Klaus hard in the chest, sending him stumbling into Nathan. 

Just as he pushes forward to defend his brother, a tanned arm holds Nathan back. 

“Whoa, whoa, just settle down Porter.”

Dave’s strong voice grabs the other guy’s (Porter?) attention. The red head points a thick finger at Klaus. 

“Did you hear what he said?” Porter’s eyes are straining out of their sockets. 

Dave chuckles softly, holding a hand out calmingly. “He’s just trying to rile you up, and looks like it’s working.”

Porter throws his hands in the air and looks like he’s about to say something when he chooses to kick a crate over instead. He fires a parting glare at Klaus before storming back to the barracks. 

The soldiers get back in line and become once again distracted by their own conversations. 

“That was stupid, Klaus,” Dave says warmly. “Porter is known for being a bit of a hot head.”

“Here I am just being known for being hot.” He gives Dave a wink.

Dave sighs deeply, looking to the sky. Klaus throws his arm back around his brother, but Nathan catches him watching Dave out of the corner of his eye. 

Dave picks up Nathan’s soap off the ground and gives it a bit of a dust off, before handing it back to Nathan with a shrug. There’s still dirt stuck to it, but he can wash it off in the shower.

“Try and stay away from him if you can,” he warns.

Trudging through the jungle carrying packs that weigh more than Vanya, Klaus is babbling nonsense sounding stories for the rest of the platoon’s amusement, which are most likely true and accurate accounts from Klaus’ twenties if Ben is to be believed. He’s positively bouncy, galloping along beside the football guy (who turns out to be Andrews) while telling everyone a story about an amputee stripper, a rollerskating rink and a whole heap of weed. 

Nathan knows exactly what’s caused the sudden change in Klaus’ personality, and he has to admit that it has actually made his brother function better. A far cry from the snappy, surly attitude he gave Nathan at dinner the night before, instead he skips back to Nathan’s spot in the line every half hour or so to check in with how he’s going. 

From the self-depreciating stories Klaus has told him about his life before Vietnam, Nathan knows that he hasn’t been sober for years, and while it isn’t healthy, maybe it’s what Klaus needs right now. The aim of his mission (which he’s considering codenaming _Save Dave_ ) wasn’t to get his brother sober, just to bring back the love of his life before he gets shot in the chest. Besides, he doesn’t want to mess with the timeline too much. 

He doesn’t want to admit that Klaus back on drugs makes him much more tolerable than his sober version, if the night before was anything to go by. 

The question is, how did he get drugs so quickly with no contacts in the middle of an army base in the Vietnam war? He’s seen movies and stuff about how all the soldiers were jacked up on amphetamines. Nathan supposes most of them have to be to run around a jungle this thick at night with nothing more than a gun that from what he’s overheard from the other guys are completely unreliable. He hoped to the little girl upstairs that he and Klaus would never be out here after dark. There would be a whole lot of ghosts hiding out in these trees. 

Klaus is still rambling on.

“So then, he gives me the keys and I drive this minibus to this hardware store.”

“Bullshit Klaus, you don’t even have your license!” Nathan calls out from the back. Dave chuckles and gives Nathan a wink.

Klaus turns around and walks backwards, pointing at Nathan.

“Correct! But that doesn’t mean I can’t drive!”

A rumble of laughter signals Klaus to go on with his story. 

A guy with a long loping step and freckled skin called Jimi is whistling a tune as they step through the long grass. It sounds a bit like _Sunshine of your love_. One thing Nathan’s looking forward to experiencing in this mess of time travel is the music. He misses his iPod from back home but being the the time of Hendrix and the Rolling Stones and The Doors and hell, even the Beatles . . . 

To be honest, it’s not so bad walking through the jungle on a sunny afternoon with good company. If it can just stay like this until it’s time to go back, then that would be fine by Nathan.

Back at the camp, Nathan is lazing on his cot bed. When they first arrived, Dave gave them the pick of two beds - one next to Dave and the other near the door. Klaus had taken one look at the bed near Dave and rushed to claim the one near the door. Dave had tried to hide his disappointment, but Nathan knew there was only one thing that would have made Klaus that decisive. 

The ghost of the last man to sleep in his bed obviously had stuck around. 

Their dorm tent has ten of the stretcher-style beds arranged around the outsides of the tent. There’s a space at the back that’s been created by sacrificing some space between the cots and turned into a sort of lounge area. There’s some odd chairs, a couple of crates stacked to make shelves for a range of mis-matched drinking glasses and a broken mannequin head with only one eye sitting on top. 

“Well boys, it’s official,” Andrews announces in his booming voice as he enters the tent, holding his hands behind his back. He pulls out two unmarked glass bottles, one with dark liquid, one with clear. 

“Rest day tomorrow. You know what that means!”

He uncorks the dark bottle with his teeth, spitting the cork at Dave before taking a hearty swig. 

The boys in the tent cheer, Nathan joining in. He looks over at Klaus who is grinning ear to ear. 

Minutes later, the tent is filled with the psychedelic tones of _Purple Haze_ as Andrews and a skinny guy with a shaved head called Sticks (who Nathan’s pretty sure has been supplying Klaus) pour drinks out for everyone in the cups. Nathan gets a red plastic Mickey Mouse cup. Klaus looks pretty happy with his one that has a Felix the Cat knockoff on it. He notices that the other guys all have proper glasses.

“Gotta earn one of these babies,” Jimi says, tilting his whisky glass to Nathan before taking a sip. He sets it down on the floor next to his bed, then flicks through a box of records that he’s pulled out from under it. It’s then that Nathan notices the stunning vintage green record player set on a stool at the end of his bed. 

“Is that yours?” he asks, mesmerised by the slow turn of the Hendrix record under the needle. 

“Yeah,” Jimi says proudly. “Other guys spend all their salaries on grog and hookers. This baby gets me hard enough,” he says in a drawling New Yorker accent, patting the record player fondly. 

Nathan smirks, taking a sip of his own drink. It tastes like the shit he used to buy from the off-license when he was underage and couldn’t afford anything better. Cheap and strong. 

“You into music?” Jimi asks.

Nathan nods, thinking of his iPod back home. “Back home, I’ve got a bit of a collection. I’m into making the perfect playlist.”

Jimi scrunches up his brow, pulling out _Kinks_ from the box. “Whatdya mean, playlist?”

“You know, like a group of songs that are all good for something. Like, a playlist to get you revved up, or one for relaxing with a beer. Or for you know, killing zombies.”

Jimi chuckles as he slides the next record out of the thin papery inner sleeve. “Playlists eh?

He swaps the record for energising guitar intro to _You Really Got Me_ , bouncing his head along to the beat. 

“I guess this would be the first song on my revved up playlist,” he says with a smile, closing his eyes and tapping on his knee. 

Andrews is lounging on his bed, which is close enough to the action to use as a couch, knocking back his third drink. Vegas (who Nathan can so picture wearing a plaid shirt with a cowboy hat) is playing cards with some guy called Slick (real name Pedro but with slicked back hair deserves the name) on a small folding table. Dave is sitting on one of the wooden chairs, having a stilted conversation with a guy from another platoon who’s dropped by, interrupted by the cries from the card table and the loud music. Klaus is draped over the end of Andrew’s bed, tapping his foot at the beat and not noticing Dave’s unsubtle glances. 

It doesn’t take many drinks for Klaus to start dancing. He tries to pull Nathan up with him to his makeshift stage as the sun sets, but he’s nowhere near drunk enough for that. 

He’s found a pair of pants somewhere that he’s draped around his neck like a scarf.

“Oh, oh I know this one!” Klaus shouts excitedly as the record changes to _Love Potion Number Nine_.

_I took my troubles down to Madam Ruth,  
You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth -_

Klaus picks up the clear bottle of liquor, ignoring the protests from Slick who already had dark liquor in his glass and tops up everyone’s drink.

“Alright, are we all ready?” Klaus asks, posing like a cheerleader about to launch into a routine. Andrews shakes his head.

“What are you on about?” he asks with a lazy smile. 

_I held my nose I closed my eyes_

“I took a drink!” Klaus shouts out, pointing to Slick’s cup. 

Slick rolls his eyes, but he obediently downs his drink. Klaus waves to the other guys in the tent like a queen commanding court. 

Dave takes a sip, trying to hide a smile behind his glass.

“Klaus!” Sticks grumbles, but he still takes a drink. 

“Drink up! Drink up!” Klaus cries, waving his hands. He picks up his own large drink and downs a considerable amount.

“Fuck, he’s going to be on the floor,” Jimi scoffs, taking his own sip. 

Nathan smacks his lips, trying to get rid of the bitter taste. 

“He may not look it, but he can drink any of these guys under the table, trust me.”

Jimi’s eyebrows raise. 

“You better be careful too, it’s strong shit.”

“Psh, I’m Irish. My blood is practically made of alcohol,” Nathan replies, surprised with the way his tongue sees to be getting in the way of his words.

By the third chorus, everyone in the tent is singing the line _I held my nose I closed my eyes, I took a drink!_ Andrews has even stumbled to his feet to join Klaus on his stage, dancing around and refilling cups. 

Jimi, the bastard, somehow has a copy of _Whiskey in a Jar_ stashed somewhere under that bed and forces Nathan to get up to dance with Klaus, linking arms and skipping around.

“Irish people don’t listen to this shit!” he shouts at them as Klaus spins him around by his armpits. 

Andrews cracks open another bottle, Jimi breaks out the psychedelic tracks and the last thing Nathan remembers is hoping he’s been to the toilet before he passes out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2009 - the boys start planning how to get Nathan back
> 
> 1968 - Nathan tries playing cupid and Klaus has trouble sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Bit of bonding time for our boys.

**2009**

Klaus is sitting on one side of the kitchen table with Five, Luther and Diego on the other. There are piles of Five’s notebooks scattered between them, various pages dog-eared and marked with red pen. Grace has piled a huge plate of waffles in the middle of the table but Klaus hasn’t gotten back his appetite since last night.

“So, tell me again, when did you set the dials for?”

“March 28th, 2019.”

“That was . . . that was . . . what were we doing then?” Diego asks, clicking his fingers.

“Isn’t that when we found this one drunk as a skunk?” Luther replies squinting in concentration. 

“Yeah, it was -”

“Why then?” Five snaps, slamming a book against the table. Klaus opens his mouth to talk but nothing comes out. 

He hadn’t really told his siblings much about his time in the motel room and his siblings had backed off after finding out right after he was captured again by the same assassins. 

“Klaus!” Five shouts, clapping his hands in front of his brother’s eyes to get his attention. 

Diego clicks his tongue. 

“Just give him a second,” he says, patting Five on the shoulder. The old man drops back into his seat. 

“That was when you were in the motel with Hazel and Cha Cha. Why then? Why didn’t you go straight to Vietnam?”

“ _If you should succeed tonight, more than one innocent life might be spared._ ” Klaus says dramatically before slumping against the table, hiding his head under the billowing sleeves of his baggy jumper.

“Isn’t that from Harry Potter?” Luther blurts out. 

Diego slowly turns towards him, his eyebrow arching dangerously close to his hairline. 

“What?” Luther mumbles, fiddling with his coffee cup. “I had a lot of time on the moon. What did you think I did up there.”

Diego says something into his cup that no-one catches. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Five asks impatiently. 

Klaus sighs deeply, looking over at Dave who is sitting at the end of the table. He isn’t visible, insisting that Klaus needs to save his energy while he deals with the fallout.

“It was my fault Patch died. I was hoping that maybe this time I could stop it happening.”

Diego doesn’t say anything. He just stands up and leaves the room. Klaus watches him go, feeling tears prick at his eyes. 

How does he keep managing to screw everything up?

Five groans, gathering his books up into his arms. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Klaus asks quietly, watching Five’s frenzied clean up.

“Luther, lock Klaus up somewhere where he can’t do any more damage and make sure you keep him away from me.”

Five flashes out of the room, leaving Klaus slumped in his seat.

“He’ll come around,” Luther says. 

He must have really stuffed things up for Luther to be trying to comfort him. 

**1968 - Vietnam**

Day off or no day off, there’s no sleeping in at the base. If it isn’t the burning heat of the sun turning the air of their dorm tent suffocatingly thick, it’s the honking of jeeps and voices shouting in the camp. The thin tent walls do nothing to block out the noise.

Nathan groans as he tries to sit up. His mouth feels like an ashtray (he vaguely remembers bumming smokes the night before) and his headache is pounding in a rhythmic throb.

The tent is quiet apart from Slick’s snores. He rolls out of his cot and heads to the showers, thankful for the cold water washing away the alcohol that he’s already started to sweat out.

Dressed in a t-shirt that can’t decide if it’s green or beige and his cargo pants that he’s belted tightly around his hips, he sets off in search of Klaus, wondering what the hell it is that soldiers do on a day off around here.

He only just makes it to the mess hall in time to grab the last of the coffee. He spots Dave talking to an important looking officer near the back door. Dave gives him a wink and raises his coffee cup at him. 

Nathan takes a sip, closing his eyes. The coffee is horrifically bitter. He tips three sugar sachets in and gives it a stir with his finger, seeing as it isn’t even hot.

“How you feeling, Hargreeves?”

Dave is standing next to him, arms folded, smirking. Nathan never really explained that his last name wasn’t Hargreeves - it just seemed easier to go along with it as the clerk ‘re-issued their lost paperwork’. 

“Like you ran me over with one of those bloody Jeeps.” 

Dave laughs. 

“How’s that brother of yours doing?” he asks, taking another sip of his own coffee. 

“Dunno, haven’t seen him yet, but he usually bounces back like a rubber ball, the prick.”

Dave laughs again, hearty and loud. 

“Let’s go see where him and the others have _bounced_ to.”

They walk around the back of the camp that’s been sectioned off into a kind of shooting range, despite Nathan insisting there’s no way that Klaus would spend his spare time training. They spot Vegas there, aiming at beer bottles and rusty tins set up on a stack of old crates. Each shot is followed by the ping of the target being hit.

As soon as Nathan hears the tinny radio, he knows that they’ve found Klaus. Dave has led them to the motor yard where the Jeeps and motor bikes and even a tank are parked in rows. Off to the side are a collection of vehicles no longer serviceable but with plenty of spare parts, as Jimi told him the other day when they were on car wash duty or whatever it was called. Nathan was just glad he wasn’t stuck with Klaus on whatever duty he had - Dave had led him and a few of the others away holding shovels. Klaus returned hours later looking as dirty as a miner and looking very unhappy.

In front of a Jeep missing its wheels, Andrews is whacking the bejeezus out of a tether ball that someone has rigged up. Sticks is holding the other bat and trying to return the battered ball, but without any success. Andrews has sweated right through his white singlet. 

Dave makes a choking sound next to him. Nathan looks up, following his eye line. He rolls his eyes.

Two guys are lying on the bonnet of the Jeep, sunbaking. Predictably, Jimi is sitting closest to the radio, a battered straw hat tipped over his face. He’s so still he could be napping. 

Next to him, shirt off and waistband of his trousers rolled down, is Klaus. He’s propped up on his elbows, wearing a pair of wayfarers that Nathan is pretty sure he saw on Dave’s bed. Nathan sneakily looks back up at Dave to see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows thickly. 

He’ll be back in 2009 by the end of the week at the rate these two are going. 

“Hey Dave, think you better help Sticks out there,” Nathan says loudly. Klaus sits up further, lowering his borrowed sunglasses. 

Dave quickly looks away from Klaus, throwing a hasty grin on his face. 

“Wouldn’t want to show Andrews up now, would I?”

Andrews stopped belting the ball for a second, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Whoa, talking a big game there, Corporal.”

Corporal. Nathan has noticed the extra line on Dave’s patch, but knew as much about Army ranks as Klaus did about healthy lifestyles.

Dave’s eyes flicker to Klaus as he takes the bat off a grateful Sticks, who instead climbs up to the roof of a four wheel drive that has also been junked and left next to the Jeep. Nathan shuffles up on the bonnet next to Klaus. 

“How are you feeling little bro?” Klaus asks, his eyes on the overly competitive tetherball match taking place in front of them. 

“Like shit. You?”

“Better, now.”

“Taken a little something for your headache?” Nathan asks, eyebrow arched. Klaus looks at him over the top of Dave’s sunglasses.

“Pipe down, kiddo.”

“Hey, not judging,” Nathan says, holding his hands out. “Just make sure you take it easy, yeah?”

“Yes mom,” Klaus teases, sticking his tongue out. 

Anyways, back to the mission.

“So, what do you think of Dave?”

Klaus gives him a sidelong look, then goes back to watching the game.

“He’s nice.” 

Nathan notices that Klaus suddenly looks incredibly sunburnt. Incredible and _suddenly_ sunburnt. 

“ _Nice_? Klaus Hargreeves, you’re a fucking liar.”

Klaus hisses at him, shoving Nathan off the bonnet with a wry smile.

“Go cause trouble elsewhere, oh-long-lost-brother-of-mine.”

Nathan turns in early that night on account of his deathly hangover and the early start that’s surely waiting for him in the morning. It feels like he’s barely dozed off before he’s jolted awake with a start. 

He lies on his back while his eyes search the darkness of the tent, trying to cling to the threads of the dream that must have woken him. It was something about chicken nuggets, but how could that have woken him . . .

There’s a low whine coming from near the door. It’s familiar, Nathan knows that but he’s still shaking off the lasting hold of sleep and can’t quite pick it. 

“ _No . . . no . . nonono . . ._ ”

Shit. Klaus.

Nathan throws the thin blanket off just as Klaus’ whispers raise to speaking volume, cutting through the virtual silence of the barracks.

“ _Please, don’t, please!_ ”

Nathan leaps over the end of Dave’s bed to Klaus’. 

“Klaus, you need to wake up mate,” Nathan whispers urgently. He hears a cot creak behind him as one of the other guys turns over.

He can’t see exactly where his brother’s head is in the shadowy mass of bedding, so he just picks somewhere ( _feels like a bony hip_ ) and shakes. 

He feels Klaus jolt under him, but he’s still muttering.

“ _Just let me go . . ._ ”

He’s still asleep. Nathan places a hand on his shoulder, shaking him again. Klaus has curled into a ball. Nathan can feel a hand over where his ear is. 

“Klaus, c’mon. You’ll wake everyone up!” he whispers, trying to pry his brother’s fingers from blocking out the sound of his voice. 

For a second he thinks it’s worked and Klaus has woken up.

Then he starts yelling.

Nathan does the first thing that pops into his mind and clamps a hand over Klaus’ mouth. He knows it probably isn’t helping whatever’s going on in his head right now, but he’s going to shriek down the whole barracks and the next one. 

“Whazgoino?” Slick slurs from the other side of the tent. Nathan holds his hand tightly over Klaus’ mouth who is now thrashing and trying to fight him off. 

“Klaus, it’s me you idiot. Calm down,” Nathan hisses into his ear. In the dark, Nathan doesn’t see the hit coming. Klaus’ bony elbow clocks him under his jaw, knocking him back on his arse. Klaus is still thrashing and Nathan is hissing at him to stay still when someone else is looming over them in the dark. 

“ _Get the door_ ,” Dave’s voice hisses. Nathan jumps to his feet and unlatches the flimsy tin door and steps outside as Dave wrestles Klaus out of the tent, door swinging shut behind them. 

In the light of the camp floodlights, Nathan watches as Dave struggles to drag Klaus along until his brother’s gangly long legs trip him up and they both tumble into the dirt.

They both lay there panting hard for a moment, Klaus on his side with his back to Nathan, Dave on his knees watching, but not daring to move. After almost a full minute of Klaus’ rasping breaths that only just start to slow down, he staggers to his feet, stumbling away from the tent towards the edge of closed in bit of jungle they use for training exercises where he falls to his knees, digging his fingers through his hair as he curls over, forehead to the ground. Dave gets up, clamping a reassuring hand on Nathan’s shoulder before returning to the tent. 

Nathan sits down splay-legged next to his brother, still curled into a tight ball. He pulls out a joint from the cargo pants he’d accidentally, but thankfully, worn to bed and gives Klaus a shove. He peeks an eye out from under his arm. There are leaves stuck in his rumpled hair. 

Nathan holds the joint up, raising an eyebrow. Klaus rolls his eyes and snatches it off him, along with the book of matches in Nathan’s other hand. 

“Wanna talk about it?”

Klaus shoots him a sideways glare, puffing smoke out of his nose. Nathan doesn’t know how he can do that with a joint. He’s tried but it always makes him sneeze. 

“Okay, not talking about it.”

“You don’t have to stay out here and baby sit poor ol’ me.”

“What, and let you have that all to yourself?” Nathan replies, snatching the joint back. “Nice try bro.”

“So, why are you here?”

“I told you, not letting you cheat me out of my Jane.”

Klaus shakes his head, rubbing his jaw. “No, like here. In 1968. In the motel room.”

“Well -”

_Well what Nathan? Well, you see, Dave is the love of your life and when he died, which will happen in nine and a half months, you were so distraught that you stole the time machine that Five stole from those assassins who were torturing you (guess what, there’s a round two), and you tried to time travel back to save Dave, but you have a shattered femur from Cha Cha’s bullet so you lost the fight with me over the briefcase and I stupidly accidentally opened in and ta da!_

“Future you dared me to steal Five’s time travelling briefcase and I accidentally opened it.”

Klaus smirks, looking down at his hands tangled in his lap. “He’s going to be so pissed.”

“He’s going to fucking kill me.” Nathan hands the joint back.

“So you’re from 2009, but it’s the second time around for me?”

“Yeah, second time around for all seven of you.”

Klaus freezes. “Seven?” He licks his lips, eyes flicking up to Nathan’s. “Ben?”

“When you jump back to 2009, you’re back in your twenty-year-old bodies.”

Nathan waits as Klaus works it out in his head. He looks up, eyes shimmering.

“He’s alive?” 

Nathan nods. Klaus’ face breaks into a huge grin. He rubs his hands over his eyes, into his hair, then back down his face. Nathan thinks he can hear a sniff. 

“How is he?”

“Overprotective sassy smart arse.”

Klaus barks out a laugh. “‘Course he is.” He takes a long drag, holding the last of the joint between pinched fingers. “God I miss him.”

Klaus butts out the joint. He’s burned through it so quickly Nathan barely got a puff, but it’s obvious Klaus needed it more. 

“So, in the future, in my future, I get sober?”

Nathan draws a knee to his chest with a huff. “So you _were_ listening that first night.”

Klaus hangs his head. “Sorry, when I’m sobering up, I can be a bit of a . . . “ He waves his hand, searching for the word.

‘Complete and utter bitch?”

Klaus bites his lip, the smallest hint of a smile in his eyes. “Yeah, that.”

Nathan shoves him, which earns him a shove back. 

“Yeah, you get sober.”

“Fuck, must have been a pretty bad OD to scare me enough to actually kick the drugs.”

“Nah, it wasn’t anything like that.” 

Klaus looks up at his brother, frowning in confusion.

Nathan gives him a sad smile. “It’s a much better reason than that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up - the boys get a few nights out on the town


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun times are over. Nathan needs to get Klaus outta there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some warnings for this chapter, at the end.
> 
> This chapter wasn't in the plan, but here we go.

Nathan wasn’t exactly the best student in school, more likely to find excuses to escape from class and spend the period smoking in the toilets or trying to get the attention of girls who didn’t want a bar of him. 

Therefore, his knowledge of the Vietnam War was patchy at best and based on watching Apocalypse Now on late night TV while high out of his mind. It didn’t seem to go too well in the movie, and he’s now seeing it wasn’t too far from the reality. 

A week after the first of his late-night-chats with Klaus, they are sent out on some sort of mission. Nathan never understands what it is that they are meant to be doing walking through the thick jungle, swatting flies and trying fruitlessly to keep the moisture out of his boots - he just does what Dave tells him. He notices that Klaus does the same, blindly following the other man with the kind of trust he doesn’t show anyone. He’s starting to understand just how deep their relationship ran. Not that he’s ever experienced anything close to it himself.

He picks a piece of long grass and tickles it against the shell of Klaus’ ear as he walks single file. He’s never walked so much in his life. Klaus swats it away a couple of times before flashing a cheeky glare over his shoulder. Nathan hears the swirl of Klaus’ canteen lid unscrewing before he’s hit square in the face with a splash of luke-warm water. His older brother doesn’t even turn around, just takes a swig as if nothing has happened. Nathan shoves his pack, causing Klaus to cough and splutter on his water. 

“Do I need to separate you two up there?” Dave asks from the back of the line. 

“No Corp!” Klaus chirps back. Andrews is chuckling up ahead, shaking his head. 

They reach a village high up on the mountain, hidden by the dense jungle. Nathan isn’t the only one to notice the eerie quietness of the place. The soldiers all stop talking even though the Sarge never gave the command. They’re a bigger group, two battalions joined together for the mission that Nathan doesn’t understand the purpose of. 

The village is primitive, all mud and bamboo and open windows on little huts. Nathan stays close to Dave as they creep further into the group of structures. Klaus does the same on the other side. The acrid smell is doing nothing to make the place any more inviting.

The hairs on the back of Nathan’s neck stand up. There’s something _wrong_ about this place. The village isn’t as abandoned as it looks. He stares into the dark doorways of the huts in front of him, expecting shadows to emerge from them. 

Klaus gasps and jumps into him, grabbing his forearm. Nathan steadies his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“ _What is it?_ ” Nathan hisses, but he knows as soon as he sees the wide fear in Klaus’ eyes. He can feel it too.

 _Ghosts_ \- and not pleasant ones from his brother’s reaction. 

Nathan pulls Klaus towards a woodpile protected by a woven lean-to and away from the others. Dave watches them, but stays with the main group, jaw clenched. 

“Can you see them? Didn’t you take something this morning?”

Klaus nods, eyes darting to his left. 

“They’re . . . _strong_.” 

His shaking hands are already patting through his pockets, looking for something more. The ghosts must be strong if even Nathan can feel it. While he can’t see the ghosts the way Klaus can, he can feel them, like he has a touch of Klaus’ power. It makes him wonder if Klaus can tap into his power, but it’s not something he wants to test.

Klaus lets out a whine when he comes up short on drugs. He’s breathing faster like he’s seen _his_ Klaus do right before a panic attack. Nathan grips his brother’s bare wrists. 

“Hey, hey, c’mon Klaus - deep breath.”

Klaus draws in a fast breath, glancing to the right this time. 

“They’re getting clearer. Oh shit Nath . . .”

He shudders, closing his eyes. 

“Uh, I can feel that,” Nathan gasps. It feels like ice cold bugs crawling through his veins. Klaus glances back to his right before doing a double take. He crashes into Nathan, pulling him further behind the wood pile. His eyes are fixed on a point near the camp fire as he scrambles to put as much distance between him and whatever apparition he’s seeing.

“No, no. no, fuck, no!” Klaus cries, his lips shaking. Nathan tries to position himself between Klaus and the ghost, blocking his view. Klaus’ hands are over his ears as he curls in on himself, knees dropping into the mud. 

There’s a commotion amongst some of the guys on the other side of the village. Nathan’s first thought is that there’s a fight and the last thing he wants is for him and Klaus to be separated from people who actually know how to shoot. He drags Klaus to his feet, tugging his brother along by his vest while Klaus’ hands are still over his ears, flinching at something only he can see. 

The guys are all crowded behind the houses in a small clearing between the trees. The rotting smell is stronger here. Nathan peers through a gap between two guys he doesn’t know to see what they are looking at, one hand still firmly gripping Klaus’ vest. The guy in front of him curses loudly before whispering a prayer to his god. 

Something around his arm yanks him back, causing him to lose his grip on Klaus. He scrambles, shoving away the arm that is wrapped around his own. He’s pulled along through the crowd by someone much stronger.

“Dave, what the hell?” Nathan shouts, wriggling away from his firm grip once they are back in the centre of the small village. There’s something that could be a kind of table made out of bamboo sticks tied together next to a shallow hole blackened with fire.

Dave isn’t looking at him at all though. He’s looking at Klaus crouched in a squat on the ground, covering his head with his arms. 

“Did he see?” Dave asks solemnly. 

Nathan looks back over his shoulder at the other soldiers clustered together. Vegas is standing on a rock, transfixed on something that has taken the little colour he had from his face. Andrews is pacing at the back, shaking his head, tall enough to have seen over the crowd. 

The smell.

The ghosts.

“Yeah, he saw.”

Nathan can’t even imagine what Klaus is seeing right now. While Sarge hustles everyone to get moving, Dave crouches down with Klaus, his low rumbling voice whispering to him. 

Nathan scans the crowd for the only person who can help. He finds him smoking a joint, staring out into the edge of the jungle.

“Hey Sticks, what have you got on you?”

Sticks looks him up and down, folding his arms over his chest. Nathan has never actually bought off him, but he’s heard enough times that he’s the one to go to.

“See me back at base,” he drawls, pinching his joint between his fingers.

“Nuh, I need something now. Anything, some oxy or Valium or whatever you have.”

Sticks raises an eyebrow. “Now ain’t the time for that shit,” he says.

Nathan shakes his head. “It’s not for me, it’s for my brother.”

Sticks looks past Nathan to where Klaus is still crouched on the ground, Dave still fruitlessly trying to pry his hands from his ears. 

Whether it’s the fact that Klaus looks so pathetic or the fact that he doesn’t want to turn away someone who is probably his best customer, Sticks hands Nathan his joint and digs around in his breast pocket. He takes out a small waxed-paper parcel and hands it to Nathan, snatching back his joint. 

“They’re oxycodones, well, they’re like oxycodones. Strong shit. One at a time. Actually, for him,” he says squinting, wobbling his hand, “He probably could go two at a time.”

Nathan thanks him with the promise of payment back at base and returns to his brother. Dave still hasn’t had any luck and some of the other soldiers are watching as Sarge moves them past on their way back to the track. 

They’ve all stopped seeing the bodies. Klaus hasn’t.

Klaus has started to mutter to himself, his head buried in his arms while Dave squats uselessly next to him. 

Nathan crouches next to them, unwrapping the parcel and removing two of the six pills. They feel chalky in the way that homemade pills feel, but he hasn’t got much of a choice. He just has to hope that Klaus’ experienced liver will be able to tolerate them. 

“Hey Klaus, I have something that can make them go away. Just give me your hand.” 

His brother doesn’t respond until Nathan pulls Klaus’s shaking hand free and presses the pills into his palm. He lifts his head slightly, his glassy green eyes peering at his hand. The second he realises what they are, he throws them into his mouth, swallowing them before Nathan can press his canteen to Klaus’ lips. Nathan looks up at Dave, daring him to say anything. He’s ready for a fight, but Dave doesn’t look angry. He doesn’t even look disappointed. He just looks sad. 

Nathan takes the canteen from Klaus’ still shaking hands and screws the lid back on.

“Just take it easy yeah? St . . .” - Nathan glances at Dave - “. . . _someone_ said that they were strong.

With Dave’s help, they get Klaus back onto his feet. The trip back to base has none of the jovial laughter that usually bounces between the boys. Nathan’s sure he can hear someone sniffling further behind him, but to be honest he isn’t really paying attention. He’s putting all his effort into keeping Klaus on the track, one hand on his pack, the other ready to catch him as he sways along the barely beaten path. He trips and falls at one point, landing on his arse. He stares up at Nathan with blank, blown out eyes, making no attempt to get back up. It’s Jimi who turns around to help Nathan get him back on his feet and urge him forward back into the repetitive pattern. 

He’s still too high when it comes time for bed to even think about topping up his dose, so of course the drugs wear off during the night right in time for Klaus to scream the tent down with his nightmares, fueled by whatever he’d seen. At least no-one had managed to actually get any sleep that night.

Nathan jumps out of bed, but he’s beaten by Dave who’s already got Klaus wrapped in a blanket and heading out the door. He looks back at Nathan and tilts his head towards his bed. 

_Get some sleep. I’ve got this_.

While Nathan’s main focus has been to get the two of them together as quickly as possible so that they could get out of this hell hole, he supposes that Dave has to take the bad with the good.

Maybe that’s what made Klaus finally let him in. 

The rumours start to fly around the camp the next day about the village. Porter was firstly spouting off that it was a rebel village and that another troop must have come through and wiped them out, but after realising that no-one had seen a single weapon he changed his tune. Instead, he tells Vegas over lunch that the Viet Cong had killed off the villagers and dumped their bodies in an open grave after they refused to submit to Communism, but the way that the brass are scurrying around the camp tells Nathan that the other theory might actually hold more truth. The one where US soldiers followed bad orders given by people who made bad decisions. 

There’s a worse theory about a rouge battalion who have blurred the lines so much they can’t tell right from wrong. Whatever happened, it’s clear that the innocent villagers did not deserve their brutal deaths. 

Jimi told Nathan that he saw kids in the mass grave. _Kids_. His heart clenches as images of what Klaus must have seen suggest their way into his mind. 

Klaus drifts around the base the next day, barely noticing the world around him. He doesn’t even react at lunch when Porter has a crack at him about crying like a little girl yesterday.

Nathan jumps over the table to lunge at Porter but is caught mid-air by Dave and plonked back on a bench. Porter laughs until Dave turns around and gives him latrine duty.

A few days later, a guy from one of the other barracks takes his rifle with him out into the bushes surrounding the base. Two days later, they carry his body back on a stretcher, a dirty old green tarp draped over him. 

Nathan runs around the camp to find Klaus as soon as he hears. He breathes out a loud sigh of relief when he finds him leaning against the busted up Jeep next to the motor yard, sharing a joint with Dave. 

He’s got to get his brother out of here soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for massacre and suicide.
> 
> On a happier note, it's the disco scene next!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus' habit causes some issues. Nathan meets his match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for some drug use.
> 
> Thought I'd get this old girl going again. 
> 
> I know I promised the disco scene, but turns out this one was actually next. 
> 
> Good news is I had already written the next chapter out of order, so it's ready to go very soon!

It doesn’t come as a shock to Nathan that Klaus starts to hit the drugs harder after the village. From his far-away stares and lazy smiles, he’s been getting into the opiates more. Nathan is careful not to push, while he wants Klaus to be careful, the drugs also seem to be working. His brother isn’t waking up as violently at night and isn’t flinching at nothing while out on missions, although he needs a lot more looking after when he’s out in the field. 

It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Dave either who has been finding excuses to check up on Klaus wherever he can. Whenever he splits the group up, Klaus is always in his half. To the rest of the guys, it probably looks like Dave’s usual selflessness - taking the known liability on so the others don’t have to, but Nathan knows it’s more than that.

It’s on one such mission when they’re in a group of five bashing through the jungle. Nathan is cleaning a path along the steep side of a mountain using a machete. The way the blade slices through the long grass is actually really satisfying. He’s caught up in the repetitive motion when he hears Vegas cry out from behind. 

Nathan spins around to see Jasper helping Vegas up off the ground, but Klaus is gone. Klaus who had been _right behind him_ is gone.

“What happened?” Dave shouts, letting too much worry seep into his voice. Vegas and Jasper are peering over the edge of the embankment they’re on.

“He’s down there, sir, I can see him,” Jasper calls back, pointing.

“He fell?” Nathan gasps, rushing to the same spot and peering through the thick bamboo. Vegas dusts off his pants.

“Stupid fucking moron. Too high to keep his own feet,” Vegas mutters. Nathan shoots him a glare. 

“Klaus!” He calls out, spotting his khaki-clad legs between a gap in the bushes. He breathes out a sigh of relief to see that one of his legs is moving. He hasn’t fallen too far, maybe three or four times his height down the steep side of the mountain, but the foliage is dense. Nathan feels Dave’s shoulder bump his own. The corporal rubs his forehead.

“Klaus, can you hear us?” Dave calls out. 

“Yeah, I’m peachy,” Klaus says back, dragging out the words. Dave rolls his eyes to the sky, shaking his head. Even though he hasn’t fallen that far, it’s still too steep for him to climb back up, and that’s without the ever-present fear of landmines and enemy traps.

“Are you injured?” Dave calls back. 

Klaus lets out a breathy giggle. Nathan wishes they could see his face but the bush is too thick. 

“Nah, I’m fine. Going to be pulling leaves out of my arse for days though . . .”

Vegas rolls his eyes. “Be pulling my foot out of your skinny arse once you get it back up here.” 

Dave swings his pack off his back and digs out a coil of rope. 

“How was he with rope-climbing in basic?” Dave asks Nathan as he ties the rope in a complicated knot around an old gnarled tree jutting out from the high side of the mountain slope. 

“Err. . . I dunno,” Nathan says. “He’s known for being able to climb out of pretty high bathroom windows so I guess he can’t be too bad?”

Dave ties some extra knots in the rope just in case to add as rungs for Klaus to use, then ties the end into a bigger ball knot which throws down to Klaus. Nathan has no idea what he would have done if Dave wasn’t there, probably would have rolled down after him to keep him company while they waited for help. 

“Got it?” Dave shouts. There’s a rustling, then Klaus’ shouts back.

“Yep, but if you’re expecting me to climb this thing . . .”

The rope pulls taut. After a few moments, Nathan can see the top of Klaus’ messy black hair poking through the trees. His climbing method is . . .unorthodox to say the least. 

“Is he climbing that rope or trying out to be a go-go dancer?” Vegas asks, frowning. He’s all legs and his body is pulling too far back on the rope making the whole thing more inefficient than it needs to be, but after a few minutes he’s close enough for Jasper to grab him under one arm and Dave the other and haul him back over the edge. Klaus rolls onto his back, laughing. 

Vegas lightly kicks him in the thigh. “Next time you jump off a cliff, don’t try and take me with you.”

Klaus rolls away from the kick onto his side and pushes himself into a sitting position. Nathan kneels next to him, poking at the sticky blood streaming from a cut just beyond his hairline near his temple. 

“You’re bleeding,” Nathan announces. Klaus touches his fingers to his head then looks surprised to see the red on them. 

“Huh,” he huffs. Dave hands Nathan a cotton cloth and a rolled up bandage that looks like it’s seen better days. Nathan wipes away the blood. The cut is pretty small, but it’s gaping and still bleeding a lot. He folds the cloth into a square and bandages it to Klaus’ head. Klaus lets him, smiling dazedly into the distance.

“Are you alright?” Dave asks seriously, clearly fighting the urge to check over Klaus more thoroughly. 

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be trying that again, but I am fine. I’ve fallen off higher fire escapes and the landing wasn’t as soft either.”

Dave helps Klaus to his feet, his hand lingering on Klaus’ shoulder until he finds steadiness on his feet. 

“Alright, let’s get back,” Dave declares. “We’re already behind.”

It’s dark by the time they make it back to the base. Dave marches Klaus straight to the infirmary building to get his head looked at. Nathan follows, knowing how much trouble Klaus could get into in such close proximity to morphine. 

He’s directed to a chair at the front of the main building. There are stretchers and beds lining the length of the long room, spaced close together. Nathan tries not to look at the men with missing limbs and bandages over their eyes. Men who had been doing the same things they are doing. He feels Klaus tense next to him and realises that many of these men don’t make it. He notices Klaus shuffling through his pockets, realising that there must be a lot of ghosts in a field hospital.

“Hey, wait until they see you,” Nathan warns. “If they’re going to check you for a concussion, they’ll be able to tell if you’re high as a kite.”

Klaus groans, then sags a little in his seat. He starts scratching the back of his hand.

Nathan flicks him in the ear, which serves the dual purpose of snapping him out of the action and distracting him. He flicks Nathan back in the same spot, then pinches the fleshy skin at the back of his armpit.

“Fuck off!” Nathan hisses, rubbing the spot. Klaus smirks.

“You can never win Nathan. You grew up as an only child. You don’t know what it’s like growing up with these spaghetti arms against super-powered siblings.”

Nathan kicks his heel into Klaus’ shin.

“If you be beating up my patients, I’m gonna ask you to leave.”

A nurse is standing over them, her arms folding over her chest and her head cocked to the side in a way that reminds Nathan so much of Kelly. Her tightly curled hair is pulled back into a bun under one of those ridiculous nurses hats that doesn’t suit her attitude at all.

“I’m good,” Nathan replies sheepishly. Klaus smirks, biting his lip and looking in his lap to stop himself laughing. 

“Good. We on the same page then. Now, let’s have a look at this scratch.”

The nurse pulls off the bandage that Nathan clumsily applied and cleans the blood away with a cloth and some water in a little dish. 

“That’s gonna need stitches,” she announces, dropping the cloth into the dish. She opens a cupboard on the adjacent wall and pulls out a few supplies then returns with them piled on a tray. She dumps the tray on Nathan’s lap. He jumps, understandably in his mind. It’s the closest a woman’s hands have come to that area in months, longer if he’s being honest. 

“You, stay still,” she instructs. Nathan nods, trying to keep as still as possible. 

“And you,” she says, prodding a finger in Klaus’ chest, “don’t move if you still want to look pretty.”

Klaus shoots Nathan a gleeful sideways glance, clearly delighting in the sassy nurse. Nathan is having other feelings stirring in his gut, feelings that he almost forgot existed. 

She pulls out an old fashioned blade that both boys squint at until Klaus seems to recognise it.

“Whoa, hey, hey, hey, whatcha got there?”

She plants a hand on her hip, raising one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“You wanna get an infection or you wanna let me shave your hair?”

Klaus pouts, letting his shoulders drop. 

She’s quick and efficient in her work. She only shaves off a small patch at Klaus’ temple, just enough to give a border around the cut for her to stitch. She rebandages his head, much more neatly than Nathan had and without using a whole roll of bandages. 

“Did ya black out? Any blurred vision? Anything like that?” she asks, staring up close at Klaus’ eyes. 

“Nope,” he says. “I’m feeling all good.”

She stands back up straight.

“Well, you’re right to head off with your sidekick Robin here,”

Nathan scoffs while Klaus bursts out laughing. 

“I am not Robin -” Nathan starts but he’s cut off by Klaus who stands up only to fall flat on his face after one step. 

“Holy hell!” the nurse curses. She tries to catch him, but only just manages to stop his head from hitting the ground.

“Ow!” Klaus whines indignantly, reaching for his left ankle. The nurse kneels on the ground next to his legs, pulling his pant leg up. 

“Get that boot off,” she orders Nathan who is hovering uselessly above him. He kneels on the other side while she tells off soldiers who are staring at the commotion. 

Nathan wrinkles his nose as he pulls off Klaus’ boot. A lack of washing facilities and humid weather don’t make for socks that smell like roses. His brother hisses and curses even though Nathan is trying to be as gentle as he can. 

“Fuck, fuckity-fuck . . . “ Klaus curses. He notices the nurse is still there, then grinds out a “Sorry, shit, sorry!” 

The nurse rolls her eyes. “I ain’t no shrinking violet, soldier. You think I ain’t heard worse in here?”

Klaus instead throws his forearm over his face, tensing as Nathan peels back his sweaty sock. 

Klaus’ foot and ankle are painted in blacks and purples that would put a Monet to shame. 

“How far did you walk on that there?” the nurse asks, pressing her fingers against the swollen flesh. 

“A while,” Klaus says through gritted teeth. 

She hums. “And why you didn’t say nothing?”

“I didn’t notice?” Klaus says innocently.

“Didn’t notice eh?” She raises her eyebrows. “Must be some pretty good _didn’t notice’s_ that you be taking to block that out.” 

Nathan freezes, locking eyes with Klaus who has dropped his arm from his face suddenly. 

“I dunno . . what do you mean?” Klaus tries, but if nothing else has been obvious about this nurse it’s that her bullshit meter is spot on.

“Don’t give me that shit, soldier.” She leans in conspiratorially. “But don’t you worry, I ain’t gonna tell nobody. It just means you ain’t getting any more from here.”

Klaus groans, but Nathan has seen an issue. 

“I gotta get the doc to have a look at this,” she says, standing back up. “Get him onto that bed there,” she instructs Nathan, pointing to an empty stretcher three beds along. 

Nathan struggles to get his brother onto his one good foot, but once they’re up, getting over to the bed isn’t too hard. The nurse comes back with the doctor who doesn’t even address Klaus before he starts prodding at his ankle. 

“Um, can I speak to you for a sec,” Nathan asks the nurse, nodding his head towards the empty space at the end of the beds. She gives him a blank stare, but moves to the space anyway.

“So look, I know you said that you can’t give him anything for the pain, but he hasn’t had that other shit since this morning and if I can make sure he doesn’t mix them, I mean, it would be easier to monitor painkillers that had an actual dosage instead of that other crap . . . “

“I ain’t giving your junkie friend any pills.”

“I’m not asking . . . look, I know my brother has an issue, but you and I both know that if you don’t give him any painkillers, he’s gonna start looking around for whatever he can get his hands on and it’s probably not going to be great.”

She presses her lips together, thinking. “I give you the pills, you hang onto them and give him his doses, yeah?”

Nathan nods. 

“And you make sure he doesn’t get into any of that other shit while he takes them, yeah?”

“Sure, yep. I mean, he’s going to be stuck with one leg by the looks of it, so shouldn’t be too hard.”

She narrows her eyes, then pushes past him to return to the stretcher Klaus is on.

“Ah, there you are. This soldier needs that ankle compression bandaged and a set of crutches. I don’t think there’s a break, but it’s a nasty sprain. He’s free to go once he’s done.”

The nurse nods, pulling a roll of bandages out of her apron.

Once she’s finished she hands Klaus the wooden crutches and Nathan a plastic container of little pills. 

“Thank you,” Nathan says gratefully. He knows that giving painkillers to a drug addict isn’t at all the right thing to do, but knowing he isn’t going to overdose on that heavy badly-cut shit Klaus has been getting off Slick puts Nathan’s mind at ease. 

“You remember what you promised,” she warns.

“Oh I will. Thanks . . . .” Nathan says, fishing.

“Betty.”

“Thanks Betty. I’m Nathan. That’s Klaus,” he says, motioning towards his brother who is hobbling down the aisle like a baby giraffe without him.

“I didn’t ask,” she says, turning away to leave a blushing Nathan. She peeks back over her shoulder, flashing him a smirk.

Nathan grins back, then hurries to catch up with his brother.

It turns out that Klaus’ skill on crutches isn’t any better than his skill was (is?) in 2019. He looks like a giraffe learning to walk crossing the base towards the dorm tents. 

“What the heck Klaus?” 

Both boys spin around (Klaus almost toppling over before Nathan plants a hand in his chest to push him back in the right direction) to find Dave eyeing the crutches, slack jawed. 

“Oh, it looks _way_ worse than it is,” Klaus says, waving an arm and losing a crutch that Nathan only just catches. He sets it back under Klaus’ armpit. 

“I sent you in to get your head stitched up!”

“Oh, but I got that done,” Klaus proclaims proudly, pushing back his hair to show Dave. 

“Don’t tell me you walked back all that way on an injured ankle.”

Klaus bites his lip. “So I _didn’t_ walk back on an injured ankle?”

Nathan barks out a laugh at his blatant lie. 

“What did the doc say?” Dave asked. 

Klaus starts talking with his hands again, but promptly loses both crutches at once, and his balance with them. Nathan gets a handful of Klaus’ t-shirt but it’s Dave who swoops in to catch him around the waist. Klaus blushes as Dave set him back on his feet, muttering something about _danger to yourself. . ._.

“Thanks,” Klaus says shyly, accepting the crutches back from Nathan who had grabbed them out of the dirt. “It’s just a sprain,” he mutters to Dave, still flushed red. 

“Well take it easy and stay off it,” Dave warns, his hand still on Klaus’ shoulder. “No dancing.”

Klaus giggles stupidly, ducking his head. Dave gives him a last pat on the shoulder before heading over towards the mess hall. 

Nathan waits until Dave is out of earshot before spinning around to Klaus.

“ _Oh Dave,_ ” he says, exaggeratedly swooning like a maiden, his wrist sweeping over his brow. Klaus whacks him with one of the crutches. 

“Shove it,” he says back. “Like you can talk. _’Oh, I’m Nathan’_ ”

It’s Nathan’s turn to flush red. He shoves Klaus, immediately regretting it when he has to grab his brother around the shoulders to stop him face planting into the dirt. Klaus is cackling, not caring if he falls over.

“What? I like her,” Klaus says, looking back over his shoulder towards the medic tent they had just left. “She wouldn’t put up with your shit.”

“Like Dave puts up with yours?”

This time, Nathan dodged the wooden crutch aimed at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT is the disco scene (and should be posted real soon because it's already done!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disco scene!

It’s another month of useless patrols and mindless duties until they finally get a break.   
A three-day break. In Saigon. 

Klaus has been bored stupid stuck on duty back at base while his ankle healed. Nathan can also tell he’s been missing spending time with Dave. 

He plans to fix that during their leave. 

Nathan ends up sharing a room with Klaus because he can’t find a good reason to get Dave and his brother in the same room. Dave ends up with Andrews on the same level, two doors down. 

Klaus drags Nathan with him to the high street to buy civilian clothes (if what Klaus wears can even be called that). Nathan insists that Dave come along to ‘show them around’, earning a glare from Klaus, who knows exactly what he’s up to. Even so, Nathan notices him laughing enthusiastically at Dave’s lame jokes as they walk to the shops.

Klaus finds the most hideous outfits the 60s has managed to produce. Of course, he tries to press his fashion sense (or lack of it) on Nathan.

“But Nath, we have the exact same body type and colouring. Trust me, this will look _amazing_.”

Nathan looks down at the orange leather pants in Klaus’ hands.’

“Fuck no.”

Dave sniggers behind his hand. He settles back against the clothes rack with his arms folded. 

“Although, I reckon Dave would rock those,” Nathan taunts. Dave chokes, standing up straight.

“Err . . .”

Klaus bites his lip, holding the pants up to Dave and squinting. 

“Nah,” he says, shaking his head. “The colour is all wrong.”

He throws the pants back at Nathan who dumps them on the plastic chair outside the fitting rooms. 

Klaus is picking up horrifically coloured clothing from the racks and piling it onto one of his arms until Dave takes pity and holds the clothes for him. Klaus thanks him, turning back to the racks to hide his blushing cheeks.

Nathan settles on some unfortunately flared pants and a few t-shirts that he knows are going to be too fitted. Klaus has a pile of horridly clashing prints, some of which he’s discarding at the register to the frustration of the tiny woman behind the till. 

Once their purchases are bagged up and they leave the shop, Dave checks the time. 

“We better shake a leg, Sticks wants us on the move in an hour.”

As soon as they’ve gotten changed, Sticks is already hustling them out the door to a club. Predictably, Klaus takes ages to get ready, only matched by Slick.

The bars in 1968 are everything Nathan had hoped they would be. The coloured lights glow low through the smoke hanging in the air, the exuberant music from late in the decade beating low and deep through the speakers. 

Nathan heads straight to the dancefloor while Klaus goes straight to the bar. He returns with a drink for each of them, some sort of amber liquid that smells like the fuel they put in the jeeps and tastes like nothing Nathan can distinguish. 

They dance to _Cream’s Sunshine of your love_ , Nathan singing along to the guitar riff. Some of the guys like Jimi and Vegas join them dancing while the others watch from the bar, clearly aiming to sink as much alcohol as they can early in the night while happy hour is still on. Klaus is proving that you can do both. 

Nathan notices that Dave has his wallet out when Klaus goes to the bar. 

Surely, they have to pash soon. 

Nathan accepts the drink Klaus brings back, wondering how these two ever hit it off the first time round with both of them too shit scared to make a move. 

It’s clear to Nathan later in the night that nothing is going to happen between them once the rest of their unit turns up from wherever they had been. Dave’s been roped into a card related drinking game over at the tables, Klaus’ gaze finding him while he and Nathan dance with the other guys. The lights are dimmed low and the local women are mingled through the crowd. Vegas has clearly played this game before, but Jimi looks like his Christmases have all come at once. Nathan hopes he’s not too heartbroken when he gets the bill later that night. 

Klaus and Nathan have found a spot in a darker corner after declining the advances of a very nice but very tiny lady who tried to offer them what sounded like a threesome. The disgusted face Nathan pulled and the drink that Klaus spat out seemed to give her the message that they weren’t interested.

Looking around the bar to make sure all the boys that would care are occupied, Klaus subtly slides a pill out of the pocket of his skin tight green pants. Nathan quirks an eyebrow, holding his hand out. Klaus sighs and digs back into his pocket to press a pill into Nathan’s hand.

“Go easy, okay?” 

“Says you?”

Klaus cuffs him across the back of the head. “Hey, respect your elders.”

Nathan slips the pill into his mouth, chasing it down with his beer. 

The night melts into a heady haze of music as smooth as honey stirred in with moody warm lights. Nathan and Klaus dance, grinning like loons and completely forgetting about everything else happening _out there_. Dave joins them after a while, but then Vegas and Slick are there too, then Jimi and Anderson hollering along to _Magic carpet ride_ , ruining any chance Klaus had to spend some time alone with Dave. Still, Nathan is having a great time, bouncing along to the rich sounds coming from the old speakers. 

The next morning however isn’t so pleasant. Nathan wakes up with a hangover the size of the Mekong. 

At least he’s made it to his bed.

Klaus is passed out on the floor, his head bent awkwardly against the pillow that has been half dragged off the bed. He’s not wearing anything but his underwear. 

Nathan must have passed out again because the room is considerably warmer when there’s a knock on the door. 

Dave is standing there, fully dressed (but wearing a Hawaiian shirt) and looking not too shabby apart from the shades that are clearly hiding his hangover. 

“Um . . . just checking if you wanted to go get a bite to eat? I know some good spotss” 

Klaus groans from the floor, not even yet fully conscious. Dave clears his throat after noticing his mostly naked state, decidedly looking out the window. 

“Oh, should I come back?” he stutters. 

Nathan groans, seeing the opportunity for what it is - time alone to talk some sense into Dave. 

“Nah, he’ll be like this for hours. Gimme a sec and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Dave barely hid his disappointment, looking down at a still comatose Klaus. 

Graciously, Dave still came good on his promise of showing Nathan where to get some good food, although his stomach revolted at the thought of trying to keep down one of those amazing-looking yellow pancakes. Instead, Dave bought him a whole bloody coconut, which the shop keeper tapped a straw into and handed to Nathan. It was strangely salty and sweet, but after a few sips, he was feeling much more human. 

Once Dave had settled on a Bahn Mi, they found a spot behind the market overlooking the dark river to finish their breakfasts. 

They chat for a bit about the food they had seen in the market, before the conversation lulls awkwardly. Nathan isn’t upset, after all, Dave clearly wants to be doing this with Klaus. He’s been friendly, but not as warm or relaxed as he usually is with his brother. 

Nathan has to set them up for tonight. He doesn’t know if he can watch another pining session between the two of them. 

“So, what are you doing tonight?” Nathan asks. Dave stops, eyes darting around. He sets his roll down in his lap with a sigh. 

“Look, I don’t know if I’m reading this wrong, so sorry if I have the wrong end of the stick,” Dave starts, wringing his hands together. “ . . I don’t want to lead you on -”

Nathan scrunches up his nose. What is Dave on about?

“It’s not that you’re not a great guy, I mean, I’m sure you are . . .”

_Oh!_

“Ew, Dave!”

Dave thinking he’s trying to hit on him makes Nathan’s stomach churn. He knows it isn’t incest (apparently Luther and Allison have that covered anyway), but it feels like it. Dave is _Klaus’_. Anything else is just _wrong_.

“Oh God.” All the colour drains from Dave’s face. He’s running his hands through his hair, standing up and shuffling away from Nathan, his roll bouncing forgotten onto the concrete.

Surely the man has been rejected before? It’s not like he even wanted Nathan - why is he so upset?

Nathan urges his brain to think faster to work out what is going on. 

He replays the last things they said in his head. 

Oh fuck.

“I didn’t mean, I didn’t . . . oh God.”

Nathan grabs Dave by the biceps (he wouldn’t mind leaving Vietnam with a set of _those_ ) and holds him steady. Dave’s puffing out air like he’s running a training drill.

“Whoa, calm down soldier. I mean _ew_ because you are like thirty.”

“Twenty-nine,” Dave mumbles, still sounding a little breathless.

“Whatever. You are way too old for me, but not for Klaus.” 

Dave’s head snaps up.

“Klaus?”

Nathan nods. “Look, I don’t give a shit about which way you swing, well, actually I do, because I know my brother likes you and so it would be pretty good for him if you swung his way, yeah?”

Dave’s staring at him, mouth still hanging slightly open.

“Klaus is . . .?”

“Yes, well, I dunno exactly what he is, but he’s into you.”

Dave flushes. “I don’t think so,” he mutters, ducking his head.

Nathan chuckles. “I can tell you now; he is.”

“And you don’t care that I’m . . .”

“Gay? Fuck no. I mean, just making it clear that I am not at all interested, but I don’t care that you like the dick.”

Dave’s neck flushes a violent red colour. 

“But . . .” Dave is staring at him, chewing his lip. “But . . .”, he tries again.

“But what? Klaus likes you, you like Klaus and I’m not going to tell anyone if you guys decide to finally stop dancing around like pansies and actually do something about it.”

Nathan winks at him before turning back to the hotel.

“It’s up to you, soldier boy.”

Hours later, Nathan is waiting out front with Andrews and Jimi for Klaus when Dave walks up, dressed for a night out. 

“Look who’s decided to join the hip group,” Andrews teases, ruffling Dave’s hair. Dave pushes him off with a grin, fluffing his hair back. Nathan notices that it looks much neater than usual.

Klaus barely moved all afternoon until Nathan mentioned that Jimi wanted to try some club and Dave was coming. His brother peeled his sticky body off the floor and headed straight to the shower. 

Minutes later, Klaus waltzes down the stairs wearing a tight shirt that shows off his waist and a pair of horrific striped pants. 

“For the love of God,” Nathan groans. Jimi chuckles but Dave can’t take his eyes off him.

The disco is just as good as Jimi promised. The drinks are cheap, the girls are willing to dance and the music is mind-meltingly good. Nathan grins at Klaus and Dave’s shy sideways looks across the dancefloor. He needs to get this moving along.

He orders another round. 

After out-skulling Andrews for the second time ( _You skinny bastard, you have to be cheating!_ ), Nathan slaps his glass down.

“Off to drain the dragon,” he announces, stumbling off his stool. He pushes aside the beaded curtain at the end of the bar to seek out the toilets, when what does he see?

His brother pashing Dave against the wall of the bloody toilets. 

Dave spots him out of the corner of his eye and jumps, pushing Klaus away. His brother’s face falls until he sees Nathan. He shoots his brother a wink then leans back into Dave’s chest. The pair of them are clearly drunk. 

“You pair of twats,” Nathan curses. Anyone could see them out in the open here! How Klaus made it back to his own timeline the first time around, Nathan has no idea.

“Nathan, I’m . . I . . .” Dave starts, eyes darting between him and Klaus. He looks torn between denying having his hand up Klaus’ shirt a second ago or declaring it to the world.

Nathan slaps his and Klaus’ room key into Dave’s hands (Klaus will just lose it). 

“Gimme your key.”

A bewildered Dave hands over the key to his room.

“Story is, Klaus got ridiculously tanked, I didn’t want to deal with his ass, so you took him back to the hotel and so kindly swapped beds with me.”

A devilish grin spreads across Klaus’ face. He presses a kiss to Nathan’s cheek.

“Yuk!” 

“Thanks Nath, I owe you,” he says with a flirty wink. He grabs Dave’s wrist and tugs him along towards the back exit. Dave glances back at Nathan, struggling to keep the smile off his face.


End file.
